


Visiting Family

by rip24



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Eventual Smut, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Post-Canon, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-06-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:21:32
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 51,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24336577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rip24/pseuds/rip24
Summary: A chance meeting in a coffee shop causes Buffy to change her plans and visit the Scoobies in London.In this world nothing after the last episode of Buffy has happened. So no Angel (the TV show) and no comics.
Relationships: Rupert Giles/Buffy Summers
Comments: 68
Kudos: 67





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go again!  
> There is an explicit tag on this but it will take a while for this to be anything other than a GA story, I'll throw in a warning when we get there.  
> Giles has a girlfriend at the start of this but there is not an affair or anything like that.  
> Hope you enjoy, the plan is to post a chapter every other day at least at first.

Buffy didn’t know how long she had been sitting in the cafe. She kept stirring the latte that had been too cold to drink for a while as she stared out of the window watching the people go by. She had been in Paris for a week now and had managed to see most of the sights she had planned to, but watching people was much more entertaining than looking at buildings or paintings.   
She had been in Bordeaux before Paris and hopping from city to city in Italy and Spain before that and had learned quickly that she was happiest sitting in window seats in cafes or bars a few miles away from the city centers. There were still plenty of tourists but they were mixed in with the locals. So you got a little bit of everything. The excitement of the tourist in a new place, the joy of groups of friends meeting up for a drink after work, families with small children and old couples living quietly in their retirement. She’s seen couples argue and make up, friends sharing good and bad news, people who looked lonely and families that were obviously very close.

All of it looked the same in every country and every day made her miss her family more. Willow had sent her an email that morning, giving her an update on Xanders travels, Giles’ trouble with a few new Slayers and her own adventures in dating and magic. Buffy didn’t really know when it happened but in the year following Sunnydale Willow had become the go between in their group. Buffy still talked to Giles and Xander, a few phone calls and emails here and there but she and Willow usually talked on the phone every week or two and in between that they sent emails almost every day. Willow filled her in on what was happening with the other two and she knew that Willow told Giles and Xander about Buffy. 

When Buffy and Dawn had been living in San Francisco for the first year after Sunnydale, phone calls had been difficult. The time difference between London and San Francisco made it almost impossible for Buffy to talk to any of the others. When she started traveling around Europe, spending all the money she had saved up while living for free, the time difference didn’t matter anymore but the phone calls with Xander and Giles seemed to be awkward. So between Willow being the one who was best at replying to emails and the one Buffy could talk to comfortably on the phone she had become the center in their group. Relaying information between Buffy wherever she was located and the other three living in London. 

She was very aware that she was running out of money. In San Francisco she had worked a lot of odd jobs. She taught self-defense in the evening and worked as a waitress or barista during the day. She thought she might be able to do something like that while traveling but it was hard to convince anyone to hire you when you didn’t speak the language.  
Her hope had been that during her travels she’d make up her mind about what she wanted to do next, but she felt as lost as ever. Right now she mostly felt lost and lonely and she really wanted to go to London and stay with her family for a while. But she didn’t know how to do that. If a phone call with Giles was awkward how bad would it be in person? And would she be pressured into joining the Council like the rest of them. 

A soft familiar voice disrupted her thoughts. She didn’t turn around, it was just some man ordering coffee, she had only imagined the familiarity since she was already thinking about Giles.   
The man spoke again and she had to turn around. He sounded just like Giles, except speaking french so she couldn’t really be sure.  
But there he was, wearing an expensive looking light grey three piece suit and a long overcoat. His hair was shorter and he didn’t have any glasses on but she saw his signet ring glint as he handed money to the barista.   
Her heart skipped a beat, the fact that they hadn’t seen each other in almost two years felt surreal. But her instinct was to run into his arms.  
She stood up from the table, walking quietly in his direction still not really believing that it was actually him.  
He walked over to the other side of the cafe to wait for his take out order.  
She took a deep breath and moved closer to him, debating whether she should tap his shoulder or just say his name.

“Giles?” her hesitation caused her to speak more quietly than she’d intended.  
He turned around so quickly it startled her. His eyes widened comically when he saw her, his eyebrows almost reaching his hairline.  
“Buffy!” he stared at her for a moment before pulling her into a crushing hug.   
It felt amazing, she wrapped her arms around his waist holding him close, feeling tears well up in her eyes.  
He groaned slightly when she hugged him too tightly and she quickly let go of him.  
“I thought you were in Nice.” he was looking her over like he was searching for injuries after a battle. He kept a hand on her shoulder and it felt like he was making sure she was really there and she lifted her hand to put it over his.  
“I’ve been here for about a week. What are you doing here?”  
“I had a few meetings with some Watchers and some museums. Decided to make it a short holiday. We’ve been here since Thursday.”  
“We?”   
“Ah yes” he moved his hand from her shoulder and ran it through his hair.  
“Rupert?” a woman stood a few feet from them looking questioningly between Giles and Buffy. 

“Buffy this is Sarah” Giles was a bit awkward as he reached out to take Sarah's hand pulling her to him. Buffy saw them interlock their fingers as Sarah came to stand very close to Giles’ side.  
“Sarah I’d like you to meet Buffy Summers.” Buffy felt herself blush a little at the proud smile on Giles’ face when he introduced her. The slight widening of Sarah’s eyes told her that Sarah knew of her.   
“It’s nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you.” she stressed the phrase ‘a lot’ and Buffy could feel her cheeks get warm. She looked curiously at Giles who got a little red around the collar and awkwardly ran his hand through his hair again.  
“Oh not just him, Xander and Willow talk about you too. Good to finally see you in person.” Sarah smiled as she talked but Buffy couldn’t shake the feeling that she wasn’t actually glad to have met her.

The barista called out Giles’ name and he picked up two cups of coffee handing one of them to Sarah.  
“So we are actually just on our way to the hotel, our train for London leaves in about 3 hours. I wish I’d know you were here sooner we could have had dinner or something.”  
“Oh don’t worry London is my next stop, we can catch up then.” Buffy didn’t know where that came from but the smile that lit up Giles’ face told her it was the right decision.   
“Really? You’re coming to London?” he asked excitedly.  
“Yeah it’s been way too long since I’ve seen all of you and I’ve never been. I think it’s time I see all those places you used to tell me about.”  
Giles beamed at her and reached over to gently squeeze her shoulder.  
“That’s wonderful news. Have you decided on when you’ll be arriving and where you’re staying?”   
“No, I just decided this morning when I got Willow’s latest email. But probably early next week, and I’ll figure it out when I get there I guess.”   
“Well I” Giles trailed off raising his hand to remove his glasses, realising too late that he wasn’t wearing them “I do have a guest room that you’re welcome to stay in. But I completely understand if you prefer to stay somewhere else. Just know that it’s there.” He stuttered hesitantly through the offer.   
Buffy noticed Sarah darting her eyes between them and wasn’t sure if Giles was awkward because he felt like he needed to offer her a place to stay but didn’t want to because of Sarah or if he was afraid that she wouldn’t accept.  
“Thanks, that’s really nice. I’ll talk to you when I know more about my plans.” 

“We should get going so we don’t miss the checkout deadline” Sarah said linking her arm with Giles’ at the elbow.  
“Yes, of course.” Giles smiled at her before turning back to Buffy.  
“It was lovely to see you Buffy, very surprising” he chuckled “and very good to know we’ll have you back with the group at least for some time.” He reached out to squeeze her shoulder again. The gesture of comfort so familiar to her it made her heart ache, she realised she was homesick, not for a place but for her people. She tried to smile back cheerfully hoping her emotions didn’t show on her face, but the slight narrowing of Giles’ eyes told her he hadn’t lost the knack for reading her emotions.   
“I’ll see you two in a few days then.” She wanted to hug him again but the atmosphere had become slightly awkward so she just walked back to her table, waving at them through the window as they walked away hand in hand.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is quite short, but I'll post the next one tomorrow to make it up to you :)  
> Thanks for reading!

“Hi Buffy, what’s up?”  
“Why didn’t you tell me Giles has a girlfriend?” Buffy was surprised by the accusation in her tone.  
“Uhm, I didn’t?”  
“You know you didn’t. What gives?”  
“I don’t know really. They didn’t tell us. Xander and I just showed up at Giles’ for a surprise Sunday brunch. Which you know wasn’t actually a surprise since we did it often and it usually wasn’t planned. But that time she was there and it turned out that they’d been dating for a couple of months without telling anybody because…..I don’t know why actually. She’s really nice. She works in the research department. She’s technically a Watcher but she just does the research not any training or any of that. Wow I’m babbling.”  
Buffy laughed “I’m surprised you’re not out of breath after that one.”  
“Wait how did you find out?”  
“I ran into them.”  
“What?”  
“Yeah in a cafe in Paris, all of a sudden there is Giles in a fancy suit speaking french.”  
Buffy could hear Willow giggle a bit over the phone.  
“Wow what are the odds of that. Wait, he's still in Paris. I thought he was just there for a day.”  
“That at least answers my next question which was why didn’t you tell me he was in Paris. Anyway I can’t afford this conversation so we can finish it later. I mostly called to tell you that I’m coming to London.”  
Willow shrieked and Buffy laughed, it felt really nice to hear how excited Will was that she was coming to visit.  
“When? Why? What changed?” The questions seemed to stumble out of Willow’s mouth and Buffy just kept laughing at her.  
“I don’t know, I was thinking about how much I missed you all and that’s when Giles walked in and seeing him I realised I missed you guys even more than I thought and I just decided on the spot. I told him that you’d convinced me so you get the credit for my visit. And yeah I guess I’ll go whenever I can find a really cheap ticket since I’m kind of running out of money.”  
“I’m so excited to see you!” Willow almost shouted “and I’ll totally take the credit. I’m convinced my constant nagging had a part in this decision. You’re welcome to stay on my couch, it isn’t that bad. You can easily convince Giles to let you stay in his spare bedroom, you’d be more comfortable there.”  
“He already offered. I’m just not sure if he meant it.” She kept going over the offer in her head, trying to figure out his body language.  
“What do you mean? Of course Giles wants you to stay with him, why wouldn’t he?”  
“Well he seemed all awkward when he offered it, I don’t know if it was because of me or Sarah or just him not wanting to have me around all the time.”  
“That’s ridiculous Buffy the man thinks you walk on water, you should hear how he talks about you.” That made Buffy feel all warm inside.  
“Well we’ve had issues. Lots of them and we’ve never properly worked it out. But I do know he’ll always be there for me but I don’t want to crowd him…..or him and his girlfriend if that’s what’s bothering him.”  
“Hmm maybe he’s worried about Sarah. I’ll, you know, talk to him without asking him, see if I can get a sense of the situation when he comes back.”  
“Ok thanks Will. I really need to go before my phone cuts us off.”  
“Ok enjoy Paris bring me a baguette or something.”


	3. Chapter 3

Buffy woke up as a loud voice came over the tannoy. The train seemed to be slowing down and she managed to catch enough of the announcement to hear that they were coming into St.Pancras station. She dug around in her purse for a mirror to check her hair and makeup. 

She got her bag down and made sure she had all of her stuff so she could get off the train quickly. Willow had said she’d meet her at the train station and Buffy couldn’t wait to see her again. The train finally stopped and Buffy hurried to the exit and down the platform scanning her surroundings.  
Her heart stopped when she saw them. Willow, Xander and Giles all standing with flowers, a bottle of bubbly and a homemade ‘Welcome’ sign.  
In a way they were exactly like she expected, Giles in a fancy suit standing a little behind the other two, Willow wearing a dress that screamed ‘here's the Wicca’ and Xander with his unruly hair and eye patch. On the other hand Giles was not wearing his glasses, again, and he looked more relaxed than he usually did in Sunnydale, Willow’s hair was short and it made her seem more mature. The most noticeable change was in Xander. He was wearing a well fitted dark suit, grey shirt and dark tie, she had always had an issue picturing him in an office but here he was looking like he hadn’t ever worn anything other than a tailored suit.

She couldn’t help herself and ran over hugging both Willow and Xander smiling apologetically up at Giles, when she broke off from the other two she threw her arms around his neck. Even though she had seen him only three days earlier she was as excited to see him as the other two and she guessed the feeling was mutual when she felt herself being lifted off the floor as he hugged her tightly to him. 

“Welcome to jolly old England Buff” Xander said when Giles finally let her go and she saw him roll his eyes at Xander.   
“Thanks, love the welcome wagon but shouldn’t you all be at work. You didn’t have to make a big deal.”  
Xander put his arm around her shoulder.  
“Buffy Summers in London! That is a big deal, plus we have an in with the boss so it was easy to get a half day off.”  
Giles smirked at that and reached for Buffy’s backpack.  
“Giles I can carry my own bag, Slayer strength remember.”  
He still picked up the bag, putting it over a shoulder ignoring her comment.  
“Come on Buff we have plans for food and drinks and catching up” Xander pulled her along and Willow came up to her other side sliding an arm around her waist.

They walked through the station like that, Giles leading the way carrying the bag and the three of them following, all linked together laughing when they got in each other's way.  
They got into Giles’ car, Xander and Willow in the back and Buffy in the front. On the drive over to Giles’ apartment they pointed out various locations; tourist spots, restaurants and bars they liked and other places they planned to take her.  
Buffy sat back in her seat, taking a deep breath letting her friends' excitement wash over her. She hadn’t really grasped how often she felt lonely over the past few months until she sat here listening to her friends plan their next few days.  
She felt Giles’ knuckles brush the back of her hand and looked up at him.  
“You okay?” he mouthed at her obviously trying to not interrupt the joy in the back seat.  
She gave him a big smile and nodded. She turned in her seat so she could join in on the planning with Willow and Xander.

Giles parked the car and went to get Buffy’s bag out of the trunk. She hurried to grab the bag before he could, Giles laughed at that and rolled his eyes at her before gesturing which direction she should go. They were in a street of identical joined houses, Xander and Willow walked ahead of her and she wasn’t surprised when Xander pulled keys from his pocket and let them all in. They’d all had free access to Giles’ apartment in Sunnydale, although he grumbled about it she knew he had liked them coming by.

When she came into the apartment all she could really see were the stairs leading up to the upper floor and a hallway which led into what looked like a kitchen.  
They all hung up their coats in the foyer and Buffy pushed her bag into a corner before following Xander and Willow down the hall. They passed the living room on the way and Buffy saw dark bookcases, a fireplace, a large couch and matching armchairs. It looked warm and cozy even though the apartment felt almost as cold as outside.  
The kitchen was larger than she expected with an island in the middle and cupboards on either side. Against the far wall was a small table with four chairs.  
“Jesus Giles it’s freezing in here.” She regretted taking off her coat as she rubbed some heat into her arms.   
Giles grabbed a sweater from the back of one of the chairs and tossed it to her.  
“I’m sorry, it will warm up quickly I promise.”  
She pulled the oversized sweater over her head, it was very soft and well worn and smelled like Giles.   
She sat down in one of the chairs and pulled her feet up so she could rest her chin on her knees as she watched the other three move about the kitchen.  
It was obvious that this was Willow’s and Xander’s second home, they pulled plates, glasses, cutlery and food from cupboards without ever asking Giles about anything. Giles disappeared from the kitchen only to return with 4 champagne flutes. As Xander told Buffy about his latest trip to Taiwan to contact a new Slayer, Willow finished putting all sorts of food on the table and Giles popped open the bottle of bubbly pouring them each a glass.   
Finally they all sat down together and Xander raised his glass.  
“To all the Scoobies together again!” They clinked their glasses laughing and smiling at each other before digging into their lunch.  
Xander and Buffy seemed to do most of the talking, him putting her travel stories to shame as he described the remote places he’d visited while recruiting the newly called Slayers. 

They put away the rest of the food but Giles pushed them out of the kitchen when they tried to start washing up the dishes.  
“I’ll do that later, the living room should be warm by now. Go, go” he physically pushed Xander lightly out the door.  
“Hey Giles?” Giles bumped into her as she suddenly stopped in the hallway.  
“Oh sorry!” she said quickly but he just smiled.  
“Yes?”  
“Can I get a cup of tea? I miss your tea.”   
Giles beamed at her, a big smile that lit up his eyes.  
“Of course, you go with them I’ll be right in.”  
She watched him turn back into the kitchen and decided to follow him instead.  
He raised a questioning eyebrow at her as she came back into the kitchen and sat up on the island in the center of the room.  
“Part of getting a cup of tea from Giles is watching you go through all your little steps in making it.”  
That made him chuckle but he moved to fill up the kettle without saying anything.   
They didn’t talk as he methodically went through the ritual of making her a cup of tea just the way she liked it. He glanced back at her a couple of times, the corner of his mouth twitching up into the smallest of smiles and she just sat their playing with the fabric of his sweater between her thumb and forefinger, enjoying the fact that they could so easily fall into this kind of familiarity after all this time.

“Everything okay?” he asked quietly as he slid her cup to her.  
She picked it up and took a deep breath, smelling the familiar scent of his favorite tea.  
“Yeah pretty much perfect right now.”  
“I’ve really missed you Buffy.” She wasn’t sure if he spoke quietly so that Willow and Xander couldn’t hear or if he was afraid to admit it. Giles usually wasn’t big with the sharing of feelings.  
She reached out to grab his hand and when he looked up at her she smiled.  
“I’ve really missed you too”  
She moved down from the table and hugged him. It was meant to be brief but he was warm and big and sturdy and she felt so good in his arms that she didn’t want to let go.  
She felt him rest his head on top of hers and hug her a little tighter.  
They finally broke away from each other as they heard a loud noise from the living room like something heavy had fallen to the floor.  
Giles shook his head in exasperation before following her down the hallway.

“What happened to you guys?” Xander asked as they came into the living room, he was putting something up on the mantelpiece.  
“What did you drop Xander?” Giles asked in a voice that reminded Buffy of their days in the library.  
“Just a book, it’s fine, nothing’s broken.” Xander said quickly before sheepishly walking over and dropping into one of the armchairs.  
Buffy sat down next to Willow on the sofa, kicking off her shoes and tucking her feet under herself as she pulled a blanket over her legs and finally nuzzled into the couch with both hands on her mug.   
“You’re like a cat.” Willow laughed  
“Are you still cold?” Giles asked with a hint of worry in his voice.  
“No, I’m all good now.”

Most of the afternoon was spent taking a trip down memory lane. They mostly talked about the good times, or the less serious demons and fights they went through.   
When it started to get dark outside Giles started a fire in the fireplace and turned on a few lamps casting a warm glow over the room.  
“Is anyone else hungry?” Xander asked the group.  
“Yeah actually starving now that you mention it.” Buffy was quick to reply.  
“How about me and Xander go and get some food from the Indian place around the corner?” Willow offered.  
Everyone agreed so Giles started picking up their discarded glasses carrying them into the kitchen.  
“Now you can talk to him about where you’ll stay if you want to” Willow whispered to Buffy when Xander had also left the room “but you are always welcome at my place.”

Buffy started to get off the couch when Giles came back into the living room carrying plates and cutlery.  
“We should eat in here, it’s about 10 degrees colder in the kitchen.”   
He went back to the kitchen and returned with glasses and a jug of water. He put it all on the coffee table and sat down on the couch on the other end from Buffy.  
She looked at him for a moment, working up the nerve to start this conversation. The afternoon had been so amazing she didn’t want to make things awkward.  
“Uhm Giles? When you offered me a place to stay, did you mean it?”  
The surprise was obvious on Giles’ face.  
“Of course I meant it, Buffy. You are more than welcome to stay here, I would be delighted if you stayed here.”  
After a short silence he tilted his head slightly, looking at her.  
“Why would you think the offer wasn’t sincere?”  
Buffy sighed, wrapping the blanket tighter around herself.  
“There was just something, in the way you offered. It seemed a bit awkward like you were offering out of a sense of duty or something like that. I don’t want to invade your space, Willow has offered me her couch and I can still afford a few more nights in a hostel.”  
“You truly are welcome to stay here Buffy, I’d go so far as to say that I found a place with an extra bedroom in the hope that you would maybe visit the three of us sometimes.”  
Now it was time for Buffy to look surprised and Giles chuckled at the look on her face.  
“If the offer seemed strained it was simply because our relationship has had it’s ups and down and I wasn’t sure you had any interest in staying with me but I wasn’t prepared to hear you say it out-loud.”  
Their eyes met and they both giggled a little.  
“So we were both a little too worried about how the other person felt?” she asked.  
“I think that might be a nice change of pace for us.”  
“And Sarah is fine with me staying here?”   
Giles considered it before answering.  
“I’ll admit that I didn’t think to ask but I assume so.” He hesitated before adding “and if she wasn’t that wouldn’t be your problem. You are always welcome here Buffy.”  
“Ok if you are absolutely sure. I promise I will not be offended if you change your mind and I don’t want to cause you any issues.”  
“Come on I’ll show you the room.” he chuckled as he got up from the couch.

Giles let her carry her bag up the stairs, when they got to the landing he pointed to the door on the left.  
“That’s the bathroom, this is your room.” He pushed the door to the right open revealing a small room, with dark blue wallpaper. All the furniture was made from very dark wood making the room appear even smaller than it actually was. The bed was big and took up most of the space but there was a small chair, a dresser and of course two bookcases stuffed with books.  
“Is this where you keep the books you’re ashamed of?” she teased him.  
“In a way,” he laughed “I keep my personal collection of occult books here and in my room so they aren’t on display for guests. You’ll also find some spy novels and such on the lower shelves.” he self consciously rubbed the back of his neck.  
“Reading modern novels is not something to be ashamed of Giles” Buffy laughed as she lifted her bag up onto the bed.  
He just smiled in response.  
“In the hope that you’d take me up on my offer I put fresh linens on the bed so it’s ready for you. Do you think you’ll be warm enough, I have extra blankets.”  
That small gesture was enough to assure her that he did actually want her there.  
“No it’s much warmer up here I think this is fine.”  
They heard Willow and Xander talking downstairs so they left the room.  
“My room is just up there.” he pointed to a door that was on the second landing. It wasn’t a third floor really as there were less than half as many steps up to it but it was above the living room.

“There you are” Willow called up the stairs “get down here, dinner is served. Or you know stacked in dozens of take away containers. Anyway there is warm food.”  
“Thanks Will, it smells delicious. Giles was just showing me his spare room.”


	4. Chapter 4

When Willow yawned for about the tenth time in as many minutes Xander stood up from his chair and pulled her up from the couch.  
“But we didn’t make any plans for tomorrow.” Willow gasped as she was pulled out of the living room.  
“You guys all have work tomorrow Will. We’ll figure it out.”  
Buffy hugged both her friends tightly, telling them how great it had been to see them again and thanking them for a great first day in London.

“Can either of you give Buffy your keys?  
Xander quickly handed over his key to Giles’ place before saying their goodbyes and leaving.  
“They walk home?”   
“Yes it’s about 10 minutes to Willow’s flat and maybe 15 to Xander’s.”  
“That’s nice, all of you in the same spot.”  
“Are you tired?”  
“Exhausted actually.” she had to admit that she had been close to falling asleep on the couch.  
Giles smiled warmly at her “Why don’t you get ready for bed then. If you’re not up by the time I leave tomorrow you just act like you own the place. Call me if you need anything.”   
She walked up the stairs and got her things from the bedroom.  
After finishing up in the bathroom she put on flannel pyjama bottoms and a tank top, slipping Giles’ sweater back over her head. Feeling a brief pang of sadness when she noticed that it didn’t smell like him anymore. 

She heard some noises downstairs that sounded like Giles doing the dishes so she put on some warm socks and went downstairs to help him out.  
“You should have asked me to help with that.” she said as she walked into the kitchen.  
Giles jumped, dropping the mug he was holding into the sink.  
“Oh my god Giles I’m so sorry, I thought you’d heard me.”  
He sighed bracing himself against the counter briefly.  
“It’s okay, with all the creaking in this house I should have heard you. But you don’t need to help with this, I'm just finishing up.”  
She hopped onto the counter beside him and started drying the plates he’d finished washing.   
Giles smirked at her before picking up the mug he’d dropped in the sink and rinsing it.  
“So is that your sweater now?” he chuckled looking her over.  
“At least until tomorrow, it’s very warm and soft and big, I like it.”  
He just smiled back nodding.

“Do you know how you want to spend your day tomorrow?”  
“I thought I’d sleep in if I can. Usually the first few days in a new city I just walk around a lot.”  
“Do you want to join the three of us for lunch? We would usually eat in the cafeteria but we could meet you somewhere if you’d rather stay away from the Council building.”  
She watched his whole body get slightly tenser, it was apparent that he was worried about this subject.  
“I don’t think I have any issue with the Council now that the Council is technically you.” she wasn’t actually sure of that. She felt like she’d spent her life running away from the Council and that walking into the building voluntarily sounded like a bad idea.

“Or we can just meet up here later.”   
“You can still read my feelings, huh?” she laughed.  
“Certainly hope I never lose my knack for that.” he handed her the last glass and started putting everything away.  
“I don’t know why, the thought of the Council still gives me chills.”  
She spoke quietly, she was worried she would hurt him. He had worked so hard establishing the new Council. From what Willow said he was even putting in a lot of effort trying to learn from their time together and using that to model their new policies. She did appreciate it, but it was still a place that told young girls that they couldn’t have the life they wanted or expected even if these new girls were dealing with a very different reality from what she had experienced.  
She felt that familiar weight of his hand on her shoulder and looked up into his bright green eyes, there was no hurt or anger there.  
“It’s alright Buffy, but I ask you to think about it while you’re here. Maybe you’ll change your mind. I know the Slayers would love to meet you.”  
“They would?”  
“You’re a bit of a celebrity. Hasn’t Willow told you?”   
Buffy shook her head.  
“Yes you are ‘The Slayer’” Giles emphasised the title “the one who survived longer than expected and eventually changed everything. They’d be starstruck to meet you.”  
“Well that sounds kind of fun.” She couldn’t help the smile.  
“Just think about it, now time for sleep I think.”

They walked up the stairs together and when Buffy turned to go into her room she heard him say her name.  
“Just knock if you need anything, it’s usually warmer up here but if you’re cold or anything just please let me know.”  
“I promise.” She hesitated before closing the door, having a hard time breaking their eye contact. She crawled into the large bed wrapping herself up in the covers and breathing a sigh of relief that her first day here had exceeded all her expectations.


	5. Chapter 5

Buffy couldn’t remember the last time that she’d slept through the night. She was used to sharing rooms with at least three other people, often sleeping in hostel dorms with over 20 beds. That meant people constantly coming and going at all hours of the night, for a Slayer who can’t help but be on the alert and has super hearing there were few restful nights.  
The house seemed to be silent and when she found her phone to check the time she saw it was just past ten, she’d slept through Giles getting ready and leaving for work.

When she got downstairs she found a note, wondering how a person actually missed someone’s handwriting she laughed at herself as she got a bottle of water from the fridge while reading the note.

_Help yourself to whatever you want._  
_There is coffee in the tin next to the coffee maker and cereal in the cupboard above._  
_Call me if you need anything or if you want to meet up for lunch._  
_Otherwise enjoy your day in London._  
_-Giles_

_PS. remember to look to your right before you cross the street_

She rolled her eyes and laughed at the postscript and then started the coffee maker before searching for Giles’ home phone.  
“Hello.”  
“Hey Giles, it’s me.”  
“Good morning Buffy, did you sleep well?”  
“Yeah great actually, I pretty much just woke up. Am I interrupting you?”  
“No I’m just in my office doing some paperwork.”  
“So a welcome interruption.” She teased as she poured herself a cup of coffee and went to the living room wrapping herself up into a blanket on the couch.  
She heard Giles chuckle before he asked “So have you decided on your day.”  
“Well I’m sort of terrified that since it’s this cold in here the outside must be like the artic.”  
“You really can’t take California out of the girl, can you?” Giles teased her.  
“I just need more clothes or at least warmer clothes. Hey I speak english!” she sounded triumphant.  
“In your own way, yes” Giles replied dryly and Buffy stuck her tongue out at the phone.  
“I mean I can maybe get a short term job here. I’ve been trying for the past couple of months but since I didn’t speak the language no one really wanted to hire me.”  
“Do you think you’re staying that long?” Giles’ tone didn’t give her any hint what answer he wanted.  
“I have no idea really.”  
After a short silence Giles cleared his throat “Well before we plan the next weeks why don’t you decide on what you want to do for lunch?”  
“How about we meet up when all of you are done with work?”  
She heard some noise on Giles’ end of the line and heard him say “Yes, send them in.”  
“Don’t hang up, just give me a second.” he said into the phone.  
“Is that Buffy?” she could hear Willow faintly in the background  
“Yes, we were just discussing plans to meet up after work.”  
“I thought she was coming here for lunch”  
“No I just offered that, she declined.”  
Now Buffy heard a small scuffle and then she heard Giles say “Now, Miss Rosenberg.”  
It was weird to hear Giles refer to Willow by her last name.  
“Don’t you Miss Rosenberg me Giles.”  
There were more strange sounds and then Giles was laughing and finally Willow was on the phone.  
“Hey Buffy, you still there?”  
“Yeah Will, what’s happening over there? And since when are you Miss Rosenberg?”  
“There is still quite a bit of stuffiness around here and Giles tends to fall back into bad habits when there are too many Watchers around. Why aren’t you coming here for lunch? I wanted to show you around.”  
“I don’t know Will.”  
“Nope, not listening. You can take the bus, it’ll take about a half an hour and there’s lasagna for lunch and you’ll like it I promise.”  
“My money is all in euro’s, I can’t even pay for the bus.”  
“Oh” Willow sounded like the air had been let out of her.  
“Giles is there any spare change around your apartment so Buffy can get the bus?” The voices sounded distant again like Willow was holding her hand over the receiver.  
“She’s joining us?”  
“Yeah if she can get here.”  
“I left some documents at home, I’ll pick her up. Just tell her to be ready in about an hour.”  
“I heard that Will, I’ll be ready.”

All her clothes were looking very much like they’d been in a backpack for a long time. Giving up on finding anything to wear she showered and did her make up, putting off getting dressed. She found a fancy hair dryer under the sink and wondered if it was Sarah’s.  
When she was finishing up her hair her eyes landed on Giles’ cologne, she removed the cap and smelled it, in a spur of the moment decision she took it with her over to her room and sprayed his sweater. She tried to understand why she was thinking so much about smell these days but then she heard the door open downstairs and realised she was very late and that she did not want Giles to catch her in her underwear spraying his cologne on a piece of clothing.  
She stuffed the sweater under her pillow and quickly ran to the bathroom to return the cologne.  
“I’m almost ready Giles. Sorry!” she called downstairs as she ran back to her room.  
“That’s fine Buffy”  
It sounded like he had started walking up the stairs, she hoped she had managed to close the door before he saw her.

She put on jeans, a tank top and a black skin tight turtleneck she had bought in Paris as it had started to become colder. The clothes were tight enough that the creases pretty much evened out.  
She took one last look at herself in the half mirror before leaving the room.  
Giles was leaning against the door, he was wearing another three piece suit. She silently wondered how many expensive looking suits he had now and if it rivaled his old tweed collection. This suit was dark grey, his shirt was crisp and white and he was wearing a burgundy colored tie. He was holding a stack of papers and so focused on reading that he didn’t seem to notice her as she started walking down the stairs.  
“I don’t want to startle you again” she said softly and he looked up and chuckled.  
“I feel a bit underdressed, but it’s really the only warm thing I have.” she said running her hand down over the front of her shirt.  
“You look fine, a part of me wants to try to relax the dress code but at the same time it does feel a little bit like armour.” He pulled her coat down as she zipped up her boots.  
“Like you’re wearing the right costume for a role you’re playing?”  
“Precisely.” He smiled at her softly “Are you ready?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding two chapters today (6 & 7).  
> Hope you enjoy them!

Giles had pointed out the building as they got closer, but it really just looked like every other office building in the area. She’d always imagined a really old building with columns and maybe even gargoyles. That was the old Council though. Giles parked in an underground garage so she didn’t see the entrance to the building. Instead he guided her to an elevator and pressed the button for the top floor.  
“Does the Council use the whole building?”   
“Not originally, but we soon found it very difficult to explain why there were always young girls coming and going at all hours.” His tone was very dry but Giles had a small smirk on his face.  
Buffy laughed “Yeah I can imagine.”  
“So now there are offices, the library, some classrooms and meeting rooms on the top floors and then one floor is a training room, I think you’ll like it. Xander designed the layout and it’s really well done. Finally there is the cafeteria and a few more offices on the first floor.”  
“So are we going to your office?”   
“Yes, I told Willow and Xander to meet us there.”

When the elevator doors opened Giles gestured for her to exit the elevator first.   
This was not what Buffy had expected, there were offices along either walls, it was bright and there was a lot of glass but not a lot of people, Buffy guessed most of them were on their lunch break.  
“This is way more modern looking than I expected of the Council.”  
“Well to be honest it was just like this when we bought it. But I do think that it does us good to stay as far away from the old wooden paneling and oil paintings of the old Council. The environment should remind you that we have updated our thinking since the 15th century.”  
Buffy smirked at him “Well thank god for change.”  
“You usually just call me Giles.”  
She laughed at that, lightly punching his shoulder and then added sincerely “Thank you for doing all this for the new Slayers Giles”  
He winked at her and then placed his hand on her back guiding her to the other end of the space where his office was. The desk in front was empty but she saw Xander and Willow sitting in the office.

“So not what you expected right?” Willow asked excitedly when Giles opened the door to the office.  
Buffy laughed but thought she sounded a bit nervous. “Yeah this is very much of the now, not what I think about when I think of the Council. Nice office Giles, it’s almost you. Enough books but a little too bright.”  
Giles’ office was probably twice the size of the other offices on the floor. With floor to ceiling windows, a large desk, multiple bookcases and a conference table.  
“I think he did seriously consider installing bookcases against some of these windows.” Xander snorted.  
Giles put the papers on his desk and he and Buffy hung their coats up before following Xander and Willow back to the elevators. 

The cafeteria was big, with lots of tables in different sizes. It was full of people and fairly loud, that is until the group had made their way into the room. A brief hush fell over the room and then the whispers started. She looked up at Giles, seeing the corner of his mouth twitch in a small smile, “I told you they’d be starstruck.”  
He put his hand on her back to get her to keep walking through the room.  
“How do they know I’m me?”   
“My guess is that the Watchers who heard our phone call earlier spread the news of your arrival.”  
“Ok I’m feeling less like a star and more like a sideshow freak”  
Giles laughed, “They’ll get over it.”   
She noticed that he was just looking straight ahead as he walked, completely ignoring the stares so she tried to do the same.

“This feels a bit like high school, food on trays and feeling like everyone is judging you.” Buffy moaned as they sat down at an empty table with their food.  
“No ones judging you, they’re just curious.” Willow explained “Just ignore them, they’ll get used to it.”  
“So I was thinking, tonight we’d go to that Italian place we found last week and then introduce Buffy here to a real English pub.” Xander sounded very excited by his plan.  
“Uhm, Xander?” Willow pointed her fork to the lasagna on her plate.  
“Ah okay then some other place, but the pub right?”  
“Sounds fun.” Buffy agreed.  
Willow and Xander started telling her about the plans they’d made for the weekend, including brunch at Giles’, most of the tourist places she’d heard of and some she hadn’t. They had even started planning where they should go to dinner.  
“Wow sounds like I won’t have to think at all for the next few days.”  
“Hey, we've spent the last year getting to know the city, now we get to pretend to be local and show the American around.” Xander spoke the last few words in a horrible imitation of a posh British accent making Giles roll his eyes but they all laughed.

Buffy noticed someone walking towards the table and looked up to see Sarah coming over. She was wearing a black pant suit, a white v-neck shirt and black pumps. Her hair was down, giving a more relaxed look in contrast to the well tailored suit.   
“Hi” she said simply, smiling at the group. Giles greeted her but didn’t get up. Buffy realised she wasn’t sure whether their relationship was public knowledge or not.  
“Do you want to join us?” he asked.  
“No, my breaks over I just came over to say ‘hi’ since your presence was hard to ignore, I’ve never known this place to be so silent.”  
“What can we say, we’re kind of like rock stars.” Xander quipped.  
“It’s nice to see you again Buffy, I’ll probably see you around right? It would be nice to get to know you after all the stories.”  
“Uhm we were just making dinner plans for tonight, do you want to join us?” Buffy glanced at Willow, she wasn’t sure if Sarah joined them usually or if Giles kept the group separate from his private life.  
“That sounds fun, if you’re sure I’m not intruding.” Sarah looked hesitant, glancing at Giles. But Willow was all smiles so Buffy thought they must have hung out before.  
“No of course not.” she said with what she was hoping was a genuine smile. Buffy wasn’t really sure why she had made the offer, she wasn’t actually excited to get to know Sarah but she should try for Giles.  
“Ok, I’ll see you all tonight.” Sarah said cheerfully. She turned to Giles “I’ll talk to you later” he said softly before she walked away.  
“Thank you for that.” He almost whispered to Buffy.   
“It’s a Slayer's duty to make sure that their Watchers partners are up to par.” she teased him, bumping his shoulder with hers, earning herself an eye roll.  
“So Buffy do you want a tour? You have to see the training room!” Willow asked, pushing her empty plate away.

When the elevator opened again they were in a small room with three sets of double doors. Xander proudly pushed open the double doors in the center revealing a huge open space.  
One wall had all kinds of targets obviously meant for practicing with a bow, there were treadmills and stationary bikes for cardio, all sorts of boxing equipment and something that looked like an obstacle course. Most of the flooring was covered in a mat that seemed ideal for sparring.   
“Wow this is fairly perfect.” Buffy had to admit that this put her training room at the magic box to shame. “Why are there three doors if it’s just one room?”  
Xander excitedly ran back to the door and pressed some buttons on a panel, a whirring noise sounded through the room and Buffy looked around to see makeshift walls made from some heavy, soft material descend on either side, splitting the room into three rooms.  
“This way we can train the more advanced Slayers in one room while the new ones train in another. Or we can have something like target practice on this end and then something loud going on on the other without disrupting everyone’s focus.”  
Xander pressed some more buttons and the walls ascended back to the ceiling.   
“What’s that?”  
“Oh that’s the meditation room.” Willow announced excitedly, grabbing Buffy’s hand and dragging her across to the closed off room in the opposite corner. The door to the room was very heavy and the inside was dark, with a warm glow coming from a few small lamps. It was obvious by the smell that people often burned incense here. There were soft pillows and blankets scattered around the room and on one wall there were shelves full of crystals.  
“This is amazing.” Buffy sighed.  
“This is my favourite room, I often sneak in here when the Slayers aren’t using it.” Willow replied as she went around the room clearing up a few of the pillows and blankets and placing them in baskets in the corner.

“So does the training area get ‘The Slayers’ seal of approval?” Xander asked, making air quotes as he spoke the title.  
“Yeah I’m a bit jealous.”   
“Well we have the keys so you can use it sometime if you want.” Xander added turning to open the door again. As soon as he did the loud noise of many voices filled the previously quiet room.   
“Yeah did I mention the sound proofing?” Xander was literally beaming with pride as he closed and opened the door to the meditation room a few times to demonstrate how well soundproofed it was.   
It turned out that while they’d been in there a group of Slayers had shown up for training so now the previously empty room was filled with about twenty teenage girls.

“Mr. Giles what brings you down here?” A tall, very handsome man wearing a white t-shirt and black sweatpants, came walking over from the group. Buffy guessed he was about thirty, he had dark hair, deep brown skin and eyes, and broad shoulders.   
“I bet you didn’t know they made Watchers like that” Willow whispered into Buffy’s ear and she had to bite her lip so she wouldn’t giggle.  
“Just showing off the place.” Giles tilted his head slightly to indicate Buffy.  
The Watcher looked a bit confused, working in a secret institution probably meant that there weren’t many visitors.  
“I’d like you to meet Buffy Summers. Buffy this is Sean, one of our Watchers.” Buffy reached out to shake his hand noticing as his eyes that had been slightly narrowed went wide at her name.  
“It’s an honour to meet you, Miss Summers.”   
Buffy could feel herself blush.  
Sean quickly turned around “Girls, over here please.”  
The group of Slayers hurried over.  
Sean leaned closer to Buffy and whispered “Sorry to do this to you.”  
“Everyone meet Buffy Summers.” he said loudly to the group. There were a few gasps and a lot of whispering and Buffy felt her face get warm.  
Giles’ phone rang and he walked off to answer it as Buffy was swarmed by the girls, all asking her questions and speaking very quickly and excitedly. 

“Girls, girls give her some space, please” Sean tried to calm the group down and slowly managed to get them to back off a bit.  
“I know they would love to pick your brain if you have a chance.” he asked very softly so that the girls wouldn’t hear, giving Buffy the chance to decline.  
“Yeah no problem.” She found herself answering before she even thought about it.  
“I need to leave, I have a meeting.” Giles was standing beside her again.   
“Is it okay if I stay here with them a while?”   
“Of course, you know your way to my office right?”   
She just nodded.  
“Then stay as long as you want, I’ll see you later.”

Willow and Xander left with him and Buffy found herself inundated with questions again.   
“What are you doing here?”  
“Just visiting my friends.”  
“So you're not going to work here?”  
“No”  
“Do you still patrol or anything?”  
“Yeah sometimes, not often though.”   
“Is it true you blew up a building?”  
“Is it true you blew up a city?”  
After about 40 questions they finally seemed to get used to her.  
“Will you train with us?”  
Buffy looked at Sean who smiled “Fine by me.”   
“Sure I guess.”

Next thing she knew she was taking turns sparring with the girls.  
In between sessions she noticed that the room had started filling up with people, first there were more and more Slayers then some Watchers started sneaking in the room and at this point she was sure most of the staff was here.  
She had removed her turtleneck and her boots and sock, so she was barefoot in jeans and a tank top.  
Sean sometimes shouted out some instructions to the girls but never critiqued her.  
“Buffy I refuse to believe after all my work you are still dropping your shoulder.” Giles’ familiar voice stood out from the crowd.  
The girl she was sparring with hesitated and Buffy used it to twist her to the floor.  
Buffy looked around the room and saw that the staff looked very guilty, some of them inching towards the exit.  
“Are you at least charging my staff for the show?” Giles asked dryly, walking closer.  
Buffy offered the girl her hand, helping her up and gesturing for her to continue.  
“Now there’s an idea” she told him as she aimed a kick at the girl who just managed to block it “well maybe they can learn something. I’ll give them the first show for free.” The girl repeatedly tried to punch her but Buffy blocked every hit.  
“Now Buffy I’ve spent the past year bragging about my Slayer and I have to say your technique is making me look bad.” Giles was still talking in that dry tone but when Buffy glanced at him she saw an amused glint in his eyes.  
Buffy quickly rounded on him, swinging her leg up aiming at his shoulder as she pushed the girl away with her arm.  
Giles easily lifted his arm to block the blow smirking at her.  
“Time to go?” Buffy asked him.  
“No I was simply looking for, well everyone.” he chuckled.

“I’m sorry Mr.Giles the girls were all just very excited to get the chance to spar with The Slayer.” Sean looked a little awkward.  
“No no it’s fine. I get it. Go on.” He spoke the last words to Buffy.   
Buffy called the next girl over and they quickly started throwing punches. This girl was very fast but her punches didn’t land with much force.  
“Don’t hold back!” Sean called to her.  
Buffy saw the girl take a deep breath and braced herself for heavier hits.  
As the two girls sparred Sean and Giles took turns calling out instruction to each girl.  
Buffy had to admit that she hadn’t really trained for a long time and she needed the notes from Giles. They fell into their old shorthand easily so the instructions coming from each Watcher sounded very different.  
Buffy sparred with two more girls feeling herself get better by the minute as Giles brought her back to her old form.

“That’s enough I think” Giles called before the next girl could join the fight.  
A loud sigh of disappointment sounded from the group of girls who had not gotten a chance to fight yet.  
Buffy quickly walked over to Giles and whispered “I can come back next week if that’s okay, give the rest of them a chance too. It turns out I could use the workout.”  
Giles smiled at her and nodded.  
“I’ll be back next week” she said simply to the group of Slayers. They all got excited again and thanked her profusely.  
“20 minutes of stretching and then you can leave. Have a nice weekend girls” Sean said before walking over to Buffy.  
“Thanks for that, I haven’t seen them this excited for training in a while.”   
“They’re a great group of girls, it was fun.” Buffy beamed at him feeling very high on endorphins from the workout.  
“Same time on Monday?” he asked. Buffy looked to Giles who nodded.  
“Sounds great, see you then.”  
Sean gave her a dazzling smile and walked off, Buffy couldn’t help herself but watch him walk away.  
Giles cleared his throat and Buffy blushed.  
“I don’t care what Giles said Buff, you looked great out there.” Willow came over to them followed by Xander and Sarah “and you two still seem to speak your own language, always so strange to watch you train with Giles it’s like you're in each others heads or something.” she added laughing.  
“Buffy I’m free the rest of the day, want to go somewhere for coffee or something?” Willow kept on seemingly oblivious to the fact that the atmosphere had become a little awkward as Sarah watched Buffy and Giles while Willow talked.  
“Sounds great Will, maybe stop somewhere I can buy some warmer clothes before I steal all of Giles’ sweaters.”   
Giles chuckled but Buffy saw that Sarah was clearly uncomfortable by the conversation.  
“Sounds like old times, except the warm part, just the shopping part.” Willow smiled “So meet the rest of you at Giles’ around seven?”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding two chapters today (6 & 7).  
> Hope you enjoy them!

After a short ride on the tube they were somewhere Willow swore Buffy could find clothes and good coffee.  
“Start with coffee?” Buffy suggested and Willow pointed the way to a small coffee shop.  
They sat down in a window seat with their coffee and Buffy twirled the rings on her fingers trying to work up some courage.  
“Will, can you do me a favour?”  
Willow looked a little worried “Of course Buffy, anything.”  
“I can ask Giles, I know he’s in a better position but it’s just more awkward with him.”  
“What’s up Buff?” Willow reached out putting her hand on Buffy’s forearm.  
“Can you loan me some money? I’m getting very close to broke and well I actually can’t really afford to buy any warmer clothes.”  
“Oh yeah no problem. Jeez it sounded way more serious than that.”  
“Well I don’t know when I’ll be able to pay you back. I’m going to see if I can find a bar or something that would be willing to hire me on a short term basis, but yeah not exactly sure when I can pay you back.”  
“Don’t worry about it, I’m not rich or anything but I can definitely help you out without it being an issue, you just pay me back whenever. You know Giles would definitely hire you at the Council. You could train the Slayers or take them on patrols or something. You already know how to do it and we always need help.”  
“Yeah I know, it’s just….the Council you know. I spent years screaming that I didn’t want to be the Slayer. I’m free now. It’s a weird thought to go back.”  
“Yeah but it’s also a group of great girl’s who you could really help and you know work with me and Xander and well it’s not ‘the Council’ it’s Giles’ Council and that really does make a difference.”   
Buffy just nodded, Willow was right. But when she thought about being on the Council staff, a part of her that sounded very much like teenage Buffy started screaming that she must be losing her mind.   
“Remember when I told you I was going to UC Sunnydale?” Buffy nodded “I said that we needed to decide what we wanted to do with our lives? First of all wow how much we had no idea what would come.” They both laughed at that, Buffy thankful for Willow's talent at diffusing a tense situation.  
“Yeah I remember, you said you wanted to help people and fight evil.”  
“Yeah exactly. I made that decision again when Giles told me he was coming here. That he wanted these girls to be safe and have the training and support they needed but also the life you always asked for. I decided that was what I wanted too. No one expected you to come along. You had gone above and beyond so many times. All we wanted for you was for you to be able to move on and never have to think about the battle against evil ever again.”  
Buffy sighed “That was the plan. But I never found what else I wanted to do, I just knew that I didn’t want to be a Slayer.”  
“Well that’s the thing Buffy. I told you that I wanted to help people and I also told you that I didn’t believe you only did it because you have to. I think you could actually be very happy working at the Council. You could travel or teach or help make the curriculum for the girls. You can be a part of the fight when you want, and stay back when you want. And I’m not just saying this as a best friend who really misses having you around but you know there is that too.”  
Buffy hugged Willow really close. Fighting back tears, Willow had obviously thought about this a lot.   
“Did Giles make you some sort of recruitment person?” she asked, trying to avoid answering.  
“No, I know he would be seriously happy if you’d join but he would be way too afraid of spooking you to ever make the suggestion.”  
“Giles is afraid of spooking me?”  
“Yeah I think so. He scolded me after that phone call this morning.”   
“What?”  
“Yeah sent the other people out of the room and told me I shouldn’t pressure you like that and that if you didn’t want anything to do with the Council then that was your choice and I should just let you make your decision on that topic without my input. Or something like that. I think he’s a little afraid that you two will stop talking again.”  
“I really have to have a talk with him about this, I don’t want him to be nervous around me or feel like he can’t trust me or something.” Buffy sighed burying her face in her hands.  
“You’ll figure it out. Just think about the option of working for the Council. Even if it’s just long enough to buy a plane ticket out of England.” 

They spent the next hour shopping for various warmer things, Willow had learned what she called ‘the art of layering’ helping Buffy pick out warm clothes that weren’t too bulky.  
They got back on a bus to go back to Giles’ carrying a couple of bags each, Buffy was sure she had enough to be able to walk around London without freezing and hang out at Giles’ without him having to listen to her complain about the cold all the time.  
“So” Buffy turned in her seat to face Willow.  
“So?”  
“How well do you know Sarah?”   
“Ahh” Willow said wisely.  
“Ahh? What ahh?” Buffy narrowed her eyes at her friend.  
“I’m just expecting you to hate her.” Willow kept on with her wise tone.  
“Why? Is she evil?”   
“No of course not, it’s just that you’ve never been good at sharing Giles.”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well the two of you have always had that bond, often like you read each other's minds. In the good times you seemed to always know what the other needed and stuff like that. I know Riley hated it.”  
“Riley hated Giles?” she couldn’t remember him saying anything like that to her.  
“No he was just annoyed sometimes when he felt that Giles was more important to you than he was.”   
“He told you this?”   
“No, well I think he mentioned something to Xander but you could just see him pull these faces sometimes, and he tended to not be too friendly to Giles.”  
Buffy didn’t remember anything like that, but she knew that if she’d ever had to choose between Giles and Riley it would have been a fairly easy choice.  
“Ok what has any of that got to do with Sarah?”  
“Well when Giles spent too much time taking care of, or you know just with, anyone who wasn’t you, you did tend to get a little possessive.”  
Buffy felt her jaw drop, but it didn’t take her long to realise that Willow was right. She had needed to be Giles’ priority. She also had to admit that a little part of her had hated seeing him with Sarah.  
“Well she hates me already, so dinner will be great.” Buffy leaned her head back against her seat.  
“Why do you say that?”  
“I got so many strange looks from her today. You'll probably notice tonight.”


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally a longer chapter :)  
> Hope you enjoy!

Buffy got off the bus alone because Willow wanted to go home and change before dinner. She walked up the steps unsure if she should ring the doorbell or let herself in. She could see Giles’ car parked outside so he was definitely home.  
She decided on the doorbell, it took Giles a couple of minutes to open the door and when he did he looked really surprised.  
“You don’t have your key?”  
“Yeah I just wasn’t sure if that was more like, use it when I’m not here kind of deal.”  
He ushered her inside. “I told you to act like you live here, remember?”  
“Right, okay sorry.”  
Giles looked like he’d been in the middle of changing his clothes. He was wearing a thin white t-shirt and his suspenders hung by his sides.  
Buffy caught herself licking her lips, he looked good, his arms were strong and his butt looked great in those pants. She couldn’t believe she’d just thought about Giles’ butt.  
“I see you haven’t lost your talent for shopping.” He smirked.  
“Hey warm clothes take up more space, so you can’t just count the bags.”  
His smile turned to a laugh.  
“Do you want some tea, I don’t think the others will be here for another hour.”  
“Yeah sounds great, I’ll just put this in my room.” 

When she came back downstairs Giles was waiting for the kettle to boil leaning against the counter, tapping his fingers in a rhythm against his chest. He looked so relaxed but you could still tell how strong he was, he carried a little weight on his stomach but it was easy to see the strong muscles in his chest and long arms. Buffy shook herself before entering the kitchen.  
“So did everyone enjoy the show today?” she hopped onto the counter opposite him.  
“There was a lot of whispered talking everywhere I went.” he replied laughing softly “but yes I think most people enjoyed seeing what you can do.”  
“Well If I’d known that I’d be on stage I might have worn something other than jeans and you know brushed up on my technique.” she raised an eyebrow at him.  
“Hey it’s a Watchers prerogative to critique their Slayer right? Make sure she’s ready to face whatever comes next.”  
The kettle started to boil and he turned away from her.  
“Uhm was Sarah okay with me staying here?”  
“Yes, she was fine with it” Giles answered too quickly and didn’t even glance at her as he spoke. Buffy didn’t say anything just waited for him to turn around.  
“I’ll admit she didn’t love the idea, but it isn’t a problem. Certainly not your problem.” His smile was so genuine that it was easy to believe him. He did probably mean it, he wouldn’t consider it her problem would he. Giles had a tendency to take on her issues as his own.  
“I don’t want to cause you any trouble Giles.”  
“Please don’t worry. I really like having you here. I get these small quiet moments like now or at the end of the day that I would miss if you were staying somewhere else.” He smiled a little shyly before turning to pour the tea.  
She couldn’t help the smile that statement brought on. Giles was usually so reserved, it really made you appreciate it when he said things like that. She decided they needed a change of subject.  
“So where are we going tonight? Do I need to dress up or?”  
“No Xander requested Chinese, repeatedly.” he turned, holding her mug out to her “there is a restaurant with great food not too far from here and it’s very casual.”  
“Great, the back packing lifestyle tends to leave all your clothes in various states of wrinkles.”  
They chatted for a while drinking their tea before they both decided to go upstairs and change.

She closed the door to her room behind her, took off her jeans and the turtleneck and crawled under the covers.  
She’d forgotten about Giles’ sweater stuffed under her pillow until her hand brushed it. She pulled it out holding it to her and breathing in the smell of his cologne, it wasn’t quite right, missing the part that was just Giles not the cologne.  
“Jesus Buffy” she sighed, pulling her pillow over her face. Was she actually doing this, looking at his muscles, thinking about his butt and sniffing his clothes. It couldn’t be, she had just missed him this would all go away after a few days together. She decided on what to wear tonight, a new dark green scoop necked shirt and black skinny jeans, pulling the clothing under the covers with her, warming everything up before putting it on. She pulled her hair up in a messy bun, touched up her make up and finally pulled her new coat from one of the bags.

She heard the doorbell ring and Giles’ footsteps on the stairs. She opened her door just in time to see Giles and Sarah kiss as he closed the front door. Sarah lingered a little on the kiss trailing her hands down his chest and Buffy could see she said something but couldn’t hear what. Giles leaned down kissing Sarah again and then they walked into the living room.  
Buffy decided to wait in her room for a few more minutes hoping that Willow and Xander would show up soon.  
She texted an update to Dawn and then breathed a sigh of relief when she heard two familiar voices down stairs.

Dinner was uneventful, it was clear that the Scoobies were not used to having someone around that wasn’t them since the conversation tended to be a bit stiff and they appeared to be trying to be on their best behaviour but there weren’t any long silences or awkward stories so Buffy considered it a success.  
They walked to the pub, it was called ‘The Queens Head’ and Xander made a quip that “they’re all called that.” as they walked up the steps to go inside.  
It was very warm, Buffy thought that might be the reason behind the stereotype of English people spending all their evenings in pubs, it was simply warmer than staying in their houses.  
The bartender, a man in his early thirties, tall, slim and good looking, greeted Giles by name and Buffy raised her eyebrow at him.  
“It’s about 5 minutes from home, of course I come here a lot.” he did blush a little though.  
They found an empty booth, Xander, Willow and Buffy sat on one side with Sarah and Giles on the other.  
“I’ll go get us a round.” Giles started to get up but Buffy reached out to stop him, placing her hand on top of his, quickly pulling back when she saw Sarah looking at her.  
“Uhm I don’t know what I want, but it isn’t beer. I’ll get it.”  
“Ok just start a tab, and ask for four of my usual.” He glanced at the rest of the group and when everyone nodded Buffy went over to the bar.  
“Hello there, what can I get you.” The bartender asked when she got to the bar.  
“That’s a good question actually.”  
“You’re here with Rupert right?” he asked glancing over at the booth,  
“Yeah, he told me to get four of his usual if you know what that is.”  
The bartender nodded and grabbed four glasses moving over to one of the taps.  
“And what about you?”  
“Hmmm not beer but I don’t know what.”  
“Ok we’ll find you something. We do have wine but I’d rather try to find you a beer you like.”  
“It’s actually less about the taste and more about a bad experience.”  
The bartender laughed loudly at that.  
“Okay okay I got you. Try this.” He handed her a small glass with just enough beer in it for her to taste it. It was very sweet, too sweet. She wrinkled her nose and the bartender laughed again.  
“How about this?” The next glass had a light golden colored liquid and it was kind of murky.  
It was at least not sweet but it still just tasted like beer.  
“Ok not that one either huhh?” He finished pouring the last of the beers for the others and studied all the beer taps.  
“How about this one?” This glass had a very dark, almost black liquid.  
It was sweet but not too sweet, it tasted faintly of coffee and chocolate.  
Buffy smiled “That’s actually really good.”  
The bartender clapped his hands together and smiled broadly “I knew I could find you a beer you’d like. Want to try a small glass of that, see how you like it after a few more sips?”  
Buffy just nodded.  
The bartender seemed to study her for a moment. “What!” She finally asked. “Well I’m just trying to figure out this group of yours”.  
She smirked at him “Good luck with that.”  
He leaned forward putting his elbows on the bar between them and glanced over her shoulder at the group sitting in the booth and then back at her a few times.  
“How come Rupert knows a girl like you?”  
“A girl like me?”  
“Oh just you know, young, American, way out of his league.” The bartender wiggled his eyebrows at her but then laughed easily.  
“We go way back, me and him. He used to live in California like me.”  
The bartender leaned to the side to glance at the group again. “I really don’t see him in California.”  
Buffy couldn’t help but laugh at that. “Yeah I think he really hated it. But we’ve been friends for years and I’m just visiting.” He placed her glass on a tray with the others sliding it over to her.  
“And by the way I’m not out of his league.”  
“Everything alright?”  
Buffy felt her heart drop to her stomach as Giles’ voice came from right behind her.  
“It took a while to find just the right drink for you California girl over here, but I think we got it.”  
Buffy picked up the tray, hurrying back to the table hoping she wasn’t noticeably blushing.

The conversation flowed more freely now but they mostly talked about work leaving Buffy the odd one out, not knowing the people or events they referred to.  
“Buffy?”  
She looked up at Giles’ soft nudge.  
“I’m sorry.” She blushed realising she had completely zoned out from the conversation.  
“What were you looking at?” He looked over his shoulder trying to pinpoint what she’d been distracted by.  
“Those guys playing dart’s. There is a lot of bragging and chest thumping going on. I was just wondering if it was unethical to challenge them to a game...make a little extra money.”  
Giles chuckled, turning a little to watch the dart players.  
“A little unfair, I don’t know about unethical.”  
She smiled at him thinking it over “maybe just before we leave” she added winking at him.  
“So California girl” the bartender came up to the table leaning against the booth besides Giles. “Did you like it?” he pointed at her empty glass.  
“Yeah I did actually, thanks.”  
“Glad to be of service” He smiled at her and Buffy saw Giles roll his eyes “just come back to the bar if you want to try out a few more varieties.” he winked.  
“I think I’ll stick to this one” she said with a small smile not sure if he was actually flirting or not.  
“Sure thing” he replied and started to walk away.  
“Hey Josh?” Giles called after him “the rest of us might also appreciate another round.”  
“Of course” Josh didn’t seem to be at all embarrassed by this, just winked at Buffy again before walking towards the bar.

“He’s confident, isn’t he?” Xander said laughing.  
“He’s cute” Willow and Buffy replied in unison and then giggled at each other.  
Buffy saw Giles roll his eyes again.  
“What’s with the ‘California girl’? Willow asked.  
“Oh, he asked how I knew Giles. I just told him we knew each other from California. He didn’t think we made sense as friends.”  
“I guess the two of you get that a lot.” Sarah said.  
“Yeah especially in high school, I guess it looked strange how much time we spent together. But we went to a strange high school, I don’t think anyone thought about it too much.”  
“Actually” Xander smirked as he darted his eyes between Giles and Buffy. “A lot of people in high school though there was something going on between you.”  
Giles choked on his beer and Buffy turned quickly in her seat to look at Xander.  
“What? People in high school thought we were together? Why didn’t you tell me?”  
“Don’t worry I always set them straight.”  
“When I think about it I remember a few people in college thinking the same thing.” Willow added looking a little lost in thought.  
“Dear lord” Giles muttered as he ran a hand through his hair.  
“So you two never” Sarah looked like she was trying to hide her feelings about the subject but the hardness of her eyes as she looked at Buffy gave her away.  
Giles turned quickly to her. “No, of course not.”  
“You know that about half of you employees believe that you two have something more than a Watcher/Slayer relationship.” This at least explained to Buffy why Sarah had seemed to dislike her from the moment they met.  
Giles pinched the bridge of his nose and shook his head.  
“Come on people just see you two spend a lot of time together and they don’t know why so they make up the most salacious scenario.” Xander finished his beer and leaned against the wall grinning.  
“But the Watchers haven’t seen them spend that much time together.” Willow added.  
“Yeah but come on you’ve read some of the other Watcher’s diaries, the pair usually doesn’t get as close as these two. It’s unusual so people assume there is more going on there.”  
“Yes well,” Giles ran a hand through his hair obviously hoping for a change of topic which came in the form of Josh bringing them another round.

“So are you two also American?”  
“Yeah born and bred” Xander answered, reaching for one of the glasses Josh had brought.  
“What exactly were you doing in California mate?” Josh asked Giles.  
“Teaching.”  
“Ah you were his students? And what, you travel across the world to visit your old teacher?”  
“No we live here now, or me and Xander do. Buffy’s just visiting.”  
“Buffy?” Josh sniggered.  
“Something funny about that?” Buffy wasn’t bothered by people laughing at her name, it had happened too many times but she usually had some fun giving people a hard time about laughing at her.  
“It’s unusual. But it’s cute and I’ll definitely remember it.” He smiled at her as he picked up their empty glasses and walked away.

“So Buffy, you’re joining the girls for another training session next week?” Sarah asked.  
“Yeah, it wasn’t planned or anything. I just kind of ended up sparring with a couple of the girls and then everyone wanted a turn.”  
“Oh so you weren’t there to train them?” Sarah sounded surprised.  
“Oh no I just came to meet them for lunch and then somehow ended up in a training session with I think all the Slayers in training. I’m just going back so I can spar with the girls I didn’t get to today.” There was something about Sarah’s smile at that statement, Buffy wasn’t entirely sure what it was, maybe she looked more relaxed or something.  
“But you had fun right?” Willow asked cheerily and Buffy saw Sarah’s smile vanish.  
“Yes I did, the girls are great and Sean is a really good teacher. He actually impressed me with how well he could advise each girl even though some of them had really different techniques.” She caught Giles’ eye and smiled “He’s not trying to fit them in a single box.”  
Giles just smiled and Buffy knew that he’d gotten that the complement was actually meant for him. It had been such a relief to see how independent many of the girls were, unafraid to speak their mind and that the Watchers they interacted with seemed to encourage independent thinking and were helping the girls develop their own unique fighting styles. Buffy had no doubt that was something that came from Giles.

Buffy excused herself to go to the bathroom and when she came back out she stopped for a moment watching the group in the booth across the bar. Xander wasn’t there, she looked around and saw him on the phone by the entrance. Giles and Sarah were laughing at something that Willow said and Buffy had an overwhelming feeling of being the odd one out. She knew she hadn’t really been a part of the group for well over a year but she never thought she’d actually feel like she didn’t fit in with the Scoobies.  
“All good?” Josh the bartender came up behind her making her jump. “Sorry about that, didn’t mean to scare you.” he reached out, touching her upper arm.  
“It’s fine, I guess I was just lost in thought there for a moment.”  
“You don’t want to go back to your friends?”  
Buffy made a couple of attempts at answering him without any idea of what to say and they ended up both laughing at her stuttering.  
“They just all work together and I don’t know the people they’re talking about so I’m not in a hurry really.”  
“Well you’re welcome to join me at the bar, anytime you want.” He grinned at her.  
She just laughed at that and he touched her arm once again before going back to the bar.

Buffy sat down next to Willow and saw Sarah smirking at her “So I saw Josh found you again.”  
“Yeah he was just checking in.” Buffy brushed off the comment reaching for her drink.  
Sarah still had that knowing smile on her face but Xander came back before she could say anything else.  
“That was Vanessa, she’s throwing a party tomorrow.” he pushed Buffy a little bit so she’d make room for him to sit down. “She said you’re welcome to join if you want Buff.”  
“Who’s Vanessa?”  
“Oh sorry, she’s a Watcher. Works with the girls.”  
“Sounds like fun” Willow said cheerily “a chance for you to get to know a few of the younger people at the Council.”  
“Uhm, sure party sounds fun.” Buffy wasn’t sure a party full of Watchers could be fun, but she was pretty sure that if she said she didn’t want to go then they wouldn’t go and she didn’t want them to miss out when they seemed excited to go.  
“Ok if we bail on you tomorrow night?” Xander turned to Giles.  
Buffy hadn’t realised Giles wasn’t invited, but of course it made sense. No one wants their boss at their party.  
“I think I’ll survive.” Giles replied dryly. 

They decided to call it a night and stopped at the bar on the way out to pay their bill.  
“Hey Buffy, when are you leaving London?” Josh called after her as they walked to the exit.  
“I’m not sure yet actually.”  
“Well I hope I’ll see you again.” He said with a charming smile before turning back to his customers.

The five of them walked together down the street, Buffy between Willow and Xander, and Giles and Sarah behind them. She wasn’t sure what the plan was, if Sarah was coming back to Giles’ place. It made sense, they’d been together for a while, they probably usually stayed at each other’s houses. But the thought of having to go back to the house with the two of them made Buffy’s stomach churn.  
They turned down another street, this one had houses on either side and a small fenced off garden in the middle. They walked along the high black metal fence, as they got about half way past the garden Buffy could feel a familiar tingle and stopped throwing out her arms to stop Willow and Xander. Xander had been talking and didn't notice her stopping so he walked right into her arm and doubled over with a loud “Oof” he straightened up and turned on her “What was that for?”  
“Shut up Xander.” She looked around the street and tried to see into the garden.  
Giles instinctively took a step closer to her “What is it?”  
“I’m not sure, but my spidey sense is tingling.” She saw him roll his eyes at her but he also reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a stake.  
A giggle sounded from somewhere on the other side of the fence.  
“Do the rest of you have stakes?” they all nodded and showed her that they had already followed Giles’ lead.  
She looked at Giles and lifted her chin in a gesture towards the top of the fence, he simply nodded and helped her climb the fence.

Buffy snuck through the trees and saw a couple making out against a tree on the other side of the garden. They looked human but it had to be either of them, there was no one else around.  
“Hey!” She called out to them “You should get out of here, this isn’t a safe place to be tonight.”  
They startled at her voice and looked at her for a moment before nodding and walking quickly away looking very embarrassed.  
Either those were the most polite vampires she had ever met or there was something else out here.  
“Buffy!” Willow’s voice sounded from the other end of the garden and Buffy set off, running as fast as she could towards the sound of her voice.  
Willow was standing at the gate to the garden, it seemed like she was trying to start some spell while Xander and Giles were fighting the vampire.  
The vampire was even taller than Giles, wearing black jeans, a black leather jacket and army boots; he would have been reminiscent of Spike except for his shoulder length black hair.  
As she watched trying to figure out the best way of getting him away from Xander and Giles he managed to pin Xander against a tree, holding him by the neck.  
“Let me” Buffy called as Giles moved to pull him off Xander.  
She meant to simply stake the vampire where he stood but he turned around at her voice and swung at her as she approached. She ducked the punch and managed to kick him in the side so he flew away from Xander.  
The vampire stumbled to the side and Buffy jumped after him before he could regain his balance, kicking him in the face so he fell to the ground. She meant to jump on top of him but he jumped up extremely quickly.  
“You’ve done this before.” She said as she moved between him and her friends.  
“Could say the same about you.” he growled as he felt his jaw where she had kicked him.  
“Yeah I’ve spent the past decade slowly killing off your kind, it’s been a while though since I’ve met one who’s been around longer than Madonna.”  
He scoffed at her “A decade you say, well then I only have a century on you. This could be fun. I’ve never fought a Slayer.”  
“Well it’s a shame you won’t live to tell the tale.”  
He growled again and threw a punch at her, she blocked the punch grabbing his hand and using it as leverage to jump up and kick him in the stomach. She managed to punch him twice but then he grabbed hold of her coat and threw her against a nearby tree. Her back hit the tree hard and all the air left her lungs. She landed on her butt but quickly got up before he got to her.  
After exchanging a few more blows without either of them getting the upper hand Buffy managed to figure out a few of his tells and blocked three blows in a row. The vampire growled and threw his weight behind the next punch, she moved to the side and grabbed his arm again and used it to twist him to the ground, she straddled his chest pinning his arms down with her knees.  
“You know, over a century of fighting you would think you’d be less predictable.” she smirked at him before plunging the stake in his heart.

“Everyone okay?” she asked as she walked over to the group dusting off her jeans.  
“Some bruises but yeah, we’re good.” Xander replied holding his jaw.  
“You haven’t lost your knack for making a fight last longer than it should.” Giles said dryly with a look of impatience.  
“Hey you gotta enjoy your work. It’s no fun without getting to know them a little first. You’re very with the judgement today Giles, dropping my shoulder, too much weight on that foot or the other, too much talking. The bad guy’s dead, be happy.”  
Giles was obviously trying not to smile at her but he wasn’t successful.  
“Well done Buffy, aside from the unnecessary conversation it was very well done.”  
“Ok so half a complement is all I get tonight, I guess I’ll take it.” She winked at Giles.  
“That fall against the tree looked rough, are you alright?” he asked more seriously, reaching over to touch her shoulder.  
“Yeah, hurt in the moment but I’m good. Your head okay?” She asked in an obviously teasing tone.  
“Haha” he said clearly trying not to sound amused but his eyes sparkled. Sarah looked a little confused.  
“He has a tendency for getting knocked out.” Buffy said simply and Xander and Willow giggled while Giles gave her an exasperated look.  
Buffy just smiled at him again and turned to link her arm with Willow and they continued walking home.

At the end of the street they got to a larger road and Giles stepped to the curb and hailed a cab.  
Buffy tried to deny the sense of relief when she realised that Sarah wasn’t coming back with them. She thanked Sarah for the evening and turned to Willow so she didn’t have to see Giles kiss Sarah goodbye.  
The four of them walked together for a few more minutes, Xander telling them a story about fighting a vampire in Argentina.  
“All I could think was how the language barrier would have really messed with your style.” He smirked at Buffy and lightly punched her shoulder.  
Willow and Xander crossed the road at the next light leaving Giles and Buffy alone to walk to his place.  
“Sarah’s nice” she said after they’d walked in silence for a minute. It was the truth, there was some tension between her and Sarah but Sarah was definitely nice.  
“I’m glad you think so.” he said with a genuine smile.  
“Do you want to go to that party tomorrow or shall I get you out of it?” He changed the subject.  
“Erm no I don’t, but no I’ll go they sounded excited about it. It would be nice to get to know some of the people you all talk about.”  
“Ok you just call if you need to run away from all the Watchers.” he opened the door, holding it open for her to enter first.  
“I’m sure I’ll survive.”  
“Tea?” he asked as he hung up both their coats.  
“Yes please, do you mind if I change? My jeans are covered in vampire dust.”  
Giles just chuckled and waved her up the stairs as he headed to the kitchen. 

She put on the same pyjamas as the night before and put Giles’ sweater back on.  
“So are the plans for tomorrow very ambitious?” she asked as she came into the kitchen and sat down at the table.  
“No, it’s a fair bit of walking but nothing too much. I have to admit that I’m a bit excited to finally get to show you London.” The smile on his face showed the true feeling behind that statement.  
“Well I’m very excited for you to show me. I know the plan is for us to see all the tourist highlights but maybe some other day you could show me some of your places?”  
He tilted his head at her in question.  
“I don’t know, maybe where you grew up, or went to school or where you lived and went when you were rebelling or where you lived and hung out when you were working at the museum.”  
His eyes widened in surprise at the request. He walked over to her carrying their cups, sliding one across the table to her and sat down across from her.  
“I feel like you lived at least three lives in London before you moved back here the last time. I want to see more of them. Know a little more of those Gileses.”  
“Are you sure?” he sounded sceptical.  
“Yeah of course. I know I was fairly self centered back in high school and didn’t ask about your life too much.” she laughed at the look he gave her “or okay at all. But I did usually listen the few times you offered up information about yourself. And now...I want to know more. Especially now that I have a chance to see some of the places.”  
“Then I think we can find some time for that.” He still sounded doubtful about her intentions.  
She spent the next few minutes trying to drag some stories out of him trying to convince him that she was interested. He finally opened up and told her a couple of stories from when he was a teenager and was starting to rebel against the idea of being a Watcher.  
“We really should be off to bed.” He said suddenly looking at his watch, she glanced at the clock on the wall and it turned out they’d been talking for over an hour.

They walked up the stairs together and Giles told her she should finish in the bathroom first and started walking over to his bedroom.  
“Hey Giles.” She reached out to place a hand on his forearm to stop him “Willow accidentally told me that you were worried about pressuring me into going to the Council and stuff like that.”  
“Ah yes.” he nervously rubbed the back of his neck “I just didn’t want you to think that just because you came for a visit we would try to get you to stay. I know that your feelings towards the Council are complicated” his eyes widened briefly before he quickly added “for a very good reason, I wouldn’t expect you to…” he sighed.  
“Thank you for that Giles” she took a step forward and hugged him, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head against his chest. He pulled her a little closer to him and she felt a little flutter go through her body. She breathed in deep before breaking away from the hug a lot sooner than she wanted.  
“I get it but you also don’t have to worry. I’m not assuming that you want to hire me to work at the Council just because I came for a visit.”  
“Well I very much want to hire you Buffy. But not unless that is what you truly want. If that never happens then that’s okay.”  
“I know. Willow doesn’t feel the same but I know that you do and that’s what counts.” She smiled at him and he pulled her in for another very brief hug kissing the top of her head.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The younger Scoobies get a chance to catch up.

Buffy threw herself down on her bed, kicking off her shoes and rotating her ankles, sighing deeply. They had started the day fairly early, eating breakfast at Xanders apartment and then they had walked all day. Buffy reached for her purse and scrolled through the photos in her camera. She’d tried to get as many group photos as she could, Giles had tried to be the one to take the photos at first but quickly gave up and joined. She came to a photo of the four of them sitting on the steps beneath The Victoria Memorial, Buffy and Willow behind Xander and Giles. They were all bunched up together and they all looked really happy. She smiled to herself and kept scrolling through the photos laughing at the bad ones and making a mental note to get some of the good ones developed for all of them. They day had been pretty much perfect but now she had to get ready for a party she wasn’t very excited to attend.  
She and Willow were going to get ready together and Xander was going to join them for some dinner at Willows apartment.  
She felt they could have eaten with Giles but they’d made the plans without asking her so she just went along with it.

She put on her only party outfit, grabbed her makeup bag and went down the stairs.  
She found Giles in the living room, he was sitting on the couch, drinking tea and reading a book.  
“There is something comforting about how familiar this is.”  
He looked up at her with a bit of a frown on his face “What do you mean?”  
She gestured at him “Just you know, you in your natural habitat.”  
He laughed at that and put down his book, she used the opportunity to steal his tea and sat down on the other end of the couch.  
“Any plans for tonight?”  
“No, not really.”  
“I can still bail if you want company” spending the night with Giles sounded much more appealing than a night with strangers.  
“You go, have fun. I’ll be fine.”  
She stood up and handed him back the rest of his tea.  
“I hope there won’t be more of these, I only have one party outfit.” She did a little twirl to show him her dress.  
“You look lovely Buffy, now go enjoy yourself. But remember you can call me if you want to get out of there.”  
The complement made her a little tingly, but she hurried out of the living room, put on her coat and walked over to Willows.

The apartment was on the second floor and it was tiny. There was a sort of kitchen and a small living room in one room and then a small bathroom and a bedroom.  
“You weren’t kidding about me being more comfortable at Giles’ house”  
“Hey! At least I have my own place.” Willow said defensively.  
“No it’s great Will, sorry I just meant you know, we would see a lot of each other if I stayed here.”  
Willow smiled “Yeah I know it’s tight, but I kind of love it and it’s so close to Giles and Xander but still my own.”  
“It’s great Will!” Buffy looked around at the stuff that made the apartment Willows, large books, crystals, various herbs in jars and bags, and a fancy looking computer. It’s really yours and I love it.”

They started getting ready and Willow told Buffy stories of the people who’d be there tonight.  
“Vanessa is the one throwing the party, she went to school in New York and her mother is American but her father was English and a Watcher. I think she may like Xander but she could just be that nice to everyone.”  
“Okay I’ll be your extra pair of eyes, see if we can do some matchmaking.” Buffy laughed.  
“Then you know Sean” Willow added a few syllables to his name.  
“Yeah he’s nice.”  
“Nice? He is gorgeous and couldn’t keep his eyes off you.”  
“He was just watching the fights.”  
Willow made a sound that told Buffy she wasn’t convinced.  
Xander came through the door carrying two pizza boxes.

“The bringer of food is here.” he said proudly making a show of bringing the pizza over to them.  
They quickly cleared the table of all the makeup products and Willow went to the kitchen bringing them back beer and wine.  
“So did I interrupt some interesting girl talk?”  
“I was just telling Buffy that Sean seemed to like her.”  
“You could do worse Buff” Xander grinned “he’s actually really nice too but the girls never seem to mention that part. Maybe they can’t due to all the drooling.” 

Vanessa’s apartment was gorgeous, either the Watchers Council paid better than Buffy expected or she had some family money. There were about 30 people there split up into a few smaller groups everyone talking and drinking and seeming to have fun.  
Buffy’s entrance generated a little buzz and she was quickly ushered into one of the groups and asked a bunch of questions. They seemed to have heard a lot of stories of Sunnydale and wanted to hear her account of all of it.  
Buffy could see Xander and Willow on the other side of the room. Willow had pointed Vanessa out to her when they entered and it was obvious to Buffy that Vanessa liked Xander. She was usually standing next to him and there was a fair bit of arm touching.  
After too many hard to answer questions Buffy caught Willow’s eye and she came over draggin Buffy away from the group. She was introduced to a few more people but she always found herself cornered again, away from Willow and Xander.  
Xander and Willow took turns dragging her away when the group she was talking to started asking questions she wasn’t comfortable with and after the fourth time she was rescued Willow dragged her off into a bathroom and the end of a hallway and locked the door behind them.  
“Okay so bringing you to a Watchers party maybe not the best idea.”  
“It’s okay, they just need to move on you know. Can we hide in here a moment and see if they forget about me for a while?”  
“That’s the plan!” Willow said, waving a full bottle of wine she’d grabbed on the way in there.

“So you told me Vanessa likes Xander and Sean likes me, what about you Will? No one flirting with you or someone you like.”  
Willow took a large sip of the wine before passing Buffy the bottle.  
“Well maybe.”  
She was interrupted by a knock on the door, “Girls you in there?” Xanders voice sounded through the door.  
Buffy let him in and locked the door again, passing him the bottle but he waved her away showing her he’d brought his own.  
“So Will is there no one you like?” Buffy pushed again.  
Willow blushed a little and then spoke very quickly “Have you met Antoine?”  
Buffy thought for a moment, the name not ringing a bell “I don’t think so who’s she?”  
“Uhm...he actually.” Willow kept blushing and reached for the bottle.  
“Oh” was all Buffy said and took the bottle after Willow had taken a drink.  
“You’re dating boys?” she asked carefully not sure what would be a sensitive thing to say in this situation.  
“Not so much dating boys as considering them, options open and all that.” Willow said quickly and when neither Buffy nor Xander said anything she kept going. “I met this girl who told me I was being too rigid or hasty with my sexuality and I think she was right. I loved Oz and even though what we had was very different from what I had with Tara it was still good. I feel like I maybe notice girls more but sometimes there are boys…” she trailed off. Willow didn’t make eye contact and just sat there tearing off the corner of the label on the wine bottle.  
Xander and Buffy glanced at each other but just sat quietly hoping she’d go on.  
“I just didn’t think it mattered.” Willow added after a moment of silence. “I met Tara and it made sense to be gay you know cause I found her and….” Willow trailed off, Buffy reached over and squeezed Willows hand.  
“You found your person so the label didn’t matter to you. I get that.” she said softly. “But now we just put a question mark at the label and you just take your time to see if it fits or if you think another one is better right?”  
“Yeah maybe.”  
“It doesn’t matter to any of us Will. It doesn’t change anything about what you had with Tara if you date a boy now.” Xander said handing Willow one of the bottles.  
“But the question is,” Buffy said, changing the tone of the conversation. “Is this Antoine good enough for our Willow?”  
Willow smiled at them as Xander started telling Buffy all he knew of the guy and the two of them debated whether he ticked enough boxes.  
They spent a while in that bathroom, laughing and hugging as Willow talked more openly about her thoughts on dating both girls and boys.

When they'd finished the last of the wine they finally emerged and decided to call it a night since both the girls were well past tipsy at that point since they had started drinking back at Willows.  
As they were walking out of the apartment Buffy heard someone call her name and turned around to see Sean walking over. He was dressed in a navy suit and an amber colored t-shirt that brought out his eyes.  
“I was told you were here but I haven’t seen you all night. Are you leaving?”  
“Yeah we ended up having an accidental private party, sorry we’re kind of exhausted.”  
“That’s a shame, I was hoping to talk to you. But I’ll see you Monday, right.” He gave her a dazzling smile, he really was attractive.  
“Yup I’ll be there.”  
“Good night then, it was nice seeing you.”


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters today (10 and 11).  
> Chapter 11 is the first chapter with some smut!  
> Hope you enjoy! :)

Buffy wasn’t sure if Giles was still awake so she tried to open and close the front door as quietly as possible. She stood still for a moment listening and heard two voices coming from the living room.  
She should have assumed that he would spend the night with Sarah why wouldn’t he. She was just so used to Giles being alone. Giles being there for just her. Buffy stood there for a moment trying to figure out whether she should leave them alone and just go to her room or interrupt them to let them know she was back. Interrupting them sounded awful, she really didn’t want to go in there, but it would probably be rude to just hide in her room.  
She decided to try to let them know she was back without having to go in there and seeing something she really didn’t want to.  
She very quietly opened the door again but tried to make a bit more noise when she closed it.  
“Buffy is that you?” Giles’ voice called out immediately.  
“Yeah, just me.”  
She took her time hanging up her coat and when Giles hadn’t come out of the living room she decided to just go upstairs.

She got about half way up the stairs before she heard his voice again.  
“Everything alright?”  
He was standing in the doorway to the living room in dark gray slacks and a very soft looking black sweater. Buffy briefly thought about how nice it must be to have him wrap his arms around you in that soft sweater before shaking her head slightly trying to rid herself of the thought.  
“Yeah I’m fine, you?” she tried to sound normal, not like she was thinking about being in his arms, but she wasn’t sure what normal sounded like at this moment.  
“You just look a bit unsteady there.” he smirked at her and she noticed she was gripping the railing very tightly.  
“Oh right. Yeah just a few too many drinks maybe. Listen I’m just going to bed, I didn’t mean to interrupt.”  
“Do you want some tea or something?” His tone and smile were both so soft. “I just think you might enjoy tomorrow a bit better if you had something to drink before you go to bed.”  
“Sure tea sounds good” she tried for a warm smile and then added more softly, hoping Sarah wouldn’t hear her, “if you’re sure I’m not interrupting.”  
“Go put on something warmer before you freeze and I’ll have some tea ready by the time you get back.”  
“What? I thought you liked it?” she ran her hands down the sides of her dress.  
Giles just raised his eyebrow at her and waved at her to continue up the steps.

Buffy decided she should just put on her pyjamas, they were the warmest option, the room felt colder than usual. She quickly found the flannel bottoms and the tank top and started searching for a sweater to put over it. Giles’ sweater was still laying on her bed and she decided to wear it for one more night before returning it. She rolled the sleeves up a little, it was very big on her but she felt warmer as soon as she put it on. Finally she put on some woolen socks she’d bought and padded downstairs. 

She found Giles and Sarah sitting side by side on the couch, each with their own mug of tea and a third one waiting for her on the table. Sarah looked very beautiful, she was wearing a bit more makeup than Buffy had seen on her before, her long hair was hanging in loose waves and she was wearing a black and white dress that appeared to have a knee length flowy skirt though it was a bit difficult to judge from her position on the couch. Buffy felt a bit self conscious having put on her pyjamas and quickly sat in an armchair reaching for her cup before tucking her feet up on the chair and spreading a blanket over her lap.  
“Did you have a nice night?” Sarah asked, putting her hand on Giles’ knee.  
“Yeah it was fun, didn’t really get to know anyone though we might have spent most of the party on our own. How was your night?” She really didn’t want to know but felt like she had to ask.  
“Very nice,” Sarah looked smiling up at Giles “we went to dinner and then just came back here.”  
Buffy could imagine many things that the two of them could do here in the dark living room by the fire and really just wanted to run away from this conversation.  
She quickly finished her tea, slightly burning her mouth and got up from under the blanket.  
“Well I’m off to bed, it’s been a long day. Good night.”  
She glanced over her shoulder to see Giles giving her a look she’d seen before, like he was worried about her. He only said a simple good night but when she walked back past the living room after leaving her cup in the kitchen she saw him watching her, his eyes not leaving her as she climbed the stairs.

Her room was a lot colder than it had been the past two nights, not for the first time she wondered how Giles had missed English weather when they lived in California. A part of her wanted to go ask Giles for a second blanket but she didn’t want to bother him again so she just got under the covers and hoped it would warm up quickly.  
She’d only been laying there for a few minutes when she heard some voices down stairs like they were moving around the house and then a few minutes later she heard the front door close and a single set of footsteps coming up the stairs.  
“Buffy are you awake?” Giles asked in an almost whisper not opening her door.  
“Yes” she called back.  
“Can I come in?”  
“Sure.”  
He slowly opened the door but didn’t step in.  
“Jesus it’s freezing in here. I’m sorry about the heating in this place. I’ve been trying to get it fixed but even then the house is so poorly insulated it’s always an issue.”  
“It’s fine Giles, I’m sure it’ll be fine in a few minutes.”  
“Wait here.” he turned around and left, closing the door behind him.  
“Really didn’t plan to leave.” she pulled the covers up under her chin and waited.  
Giles returned a few minutes later with a heavy looking blanket and hot water bottle.  
“This should help.” He tossed the blanket on the bed and handed her the bottle.  
“Thanks” she took the bottle from him and slipped it under the covers as he spread the blanket over the bed.  
“I haven’t been tucked in like this in a long time” she laughed and Giles chuckled making a show of actually tucking her in.

“You shouldn’t just go to sleep in a cold room like this, you should have told me.” Buffy thought he sounded almost angry with her.  
“I didn’t want to interrupt your evening….again.”  
“You aren’t a nuisance to me Buffy, your presence isn’t an interruption.” the anger in his tone vanished as quickly as it had started.  
He sighed softly and sat in the chair by the bed “Is everything alright? I have this lingering feeling that something is bothering you and I can’t figure out what it is.”  
Buffy sat up against the headboard pulling the covers up to her waist.  
“Yeah everything is fine.” She knew she’d been behaving a bit strangely but she had no idea how to explain it to him.  
“Yesterday you told me you liked Sarah so I don’t think it’s that but still a lot of your behaviour could be explained away if she was the one bothering you.” Giles didn’t meet her eye as he talked, staring at his own hands instead.  
“No she’s fine, I don’t have a problem with Sarah. It sometimes feels like she has a bit of problem with me however.”  
Giles didn’t seem surprised by her answer.  
“I think it’s perfectly normal for any woman in my life to find you threatening. I spent the better part of a decade with you as my focal point and I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve not been entirely successful in breaking that habit.” Giles ran a hand through his hair looking a bit awkward about his confession.  
“Willow says I have issues with sharing you.”  
Now that seemed to surprise him, Giles’ eyes widened and his jaw dropped.  
“Excuse me?”  
“She says I get possessive about you. So maybe that’s what’s going on.” She tried to meet his eyes but couldn’t actually manage it, staring at his chest and finally just dropping her eyes to her hands. She twisted the edge of the covers between her fingers hoping this conversation would end soon.  
“I’m not sure how I should respond to that. Is she right?”  
“I actually have no idea. But I do like Sarah, so long as you're happy with her that’s all that matters.”  
“Thank you Buffy.” he was silent for a moment before getting up from the chair. “I’ll leave you to get some sleep. Let me know if you're still cold.”  
“Nahh it’s all warm and toasty under here now. I’ll see you tomorrow Giles, good night.”  
“Good night Buffy” He looked back at her before closing the door behind him.

Buffy slid down in the bed grabbing a pillow and putting it over her head hoping to stifle the groan that threatened to escape her.  
She curled up on her side clutching the pillow, smelling the faint lingering of Giles’ cologne on the sweater she still wore.  
If she’d just gone to a different cafe that day in Paris. Then she could have just gotten herself to Dawn in New York or something and continued on with her life and Giles would have been happy with Sarah.  
But they’d gone to the same cafe and she was here and she seemed to be developing some feelings for Giles and he was worried about her instead of focusing on his relationship.  
She decided this was not the time to think about this, she was tipsy and he’d looked way too good tonight and if this was all about her being possessive of him then the night she came home to find him all cozy by the fire with Sarah was probably not the time to work out her feelings.  
She took a few deep calming breaths pushing all of her confusing thoughts out of her head and managed to fall asleep rather quickly.


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 2 chapters today (10 and 11).  
> Chapter 11 is the first chapter with some smut!  
> Hope you enjoy! :)

She walked across the landing and turned to go up the steps that led to Giles’ room, she couldn’t remember the hallway being lit in this orangey glow before.  
She knocked on the door and heard Giles call out for her to come in.  
He was standing by a large four poster bed. Wearing the same slacks as earlier but now he was wearing a black t-shirt instead of the sweater from before and he was barefoot.

“When did you get here?” he asked her, looking surprised to see her.  
“I don’t know” she felt very confused, she couldn’t remember leaving her room.  
Giles walked over and lifted his hand to her cheek.  
“What do you want Buffy?”   
The lighting in the room changed, instead of the bright overhead light that had illuminated the entire room earlier now there was just a faint glow coming from the window.  
“I don’t know” she replied softly, having a hard time thinking about anything other than the feel of his fingers against her cheeks.   
He stroked her cheek repeatedly with his thumb and brought his other hand up to tuck a strand of her hair behind her ear.  
“What do you want Buffy?” he repeated softly.  
“You” she sighed.  
“Why didn’t you say so?” he asked but before she could reply he bent down to kiss her.  
The kiss was very soft and he slowly moved both hands from her face into her hair.  
His tongue brushed her bottom lip and she opened her mouth to allow his tongue access.  
A jolt of longing went through her as his tongue touched hers and she wrapped her arms around him, pressing herself closer to him.  
Giles moaned and wrapped one arm around her lifting her up like she weighed nothing and setting her down on top of the dresser.   
She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist and ran her fingers under his shirt sighing at the relief of finally touching his skin.   
He pulled the shirt over his head and threw it to the side. She ran her hands through the hair on his chest leaning forward to kiss a path from his neck down between his pecs.  
His strong hands gripped her waist and she felt his thumbs gently stroke her breasts over her shirt.  
Giles groaned when she licked at one of his nipples and his hand grabbed the back of her head holding her in place as she licked and bit his nipple until it was taut.  
All of a sudden she was lifted up again and Giles carried her over and laid her across the bed.  
She couldn’t remember taking off any clothes but she was naked and so was Giles. He laid down beside her and ran his fingers from her cheek down her neck and chest before gently circling each nipple. He bent his head down to suck and lick at her breasts and nipples as his hand traveled further down her body.  
His hand traveled further than she expected and he traced the insides of her thighs with the tips of his fingers gently nudging her to open her legs.  
“Kiss me.” she moaned and he made his way up from her breasts, kissing her chest and neck, licking the shell of her ear and kissing down her jaw to her chin before finally kissing her lips again. His tongue stroked hers and then he backed off nibbling her bottom lip just as he brought his hand up between her legs circling her clit with a finger.   
He deepened the kiss again moving his fingers down and slowly pushing one of his fingers into her.  
Buffy moaned loudly arching up from the bed, she felt like she had waited her whole life for him to touch her like this. Giles pushed another finger into her and used the heel of his hand to put pressure on her clit. She moaned his name as it was the only word she could remember, grabbing the back of his head to kiss him harder.  
It felt like the entire world vanished, it was just them on that bed and just the feelings he stirred in her with his mouth and fingers.  
Giles kissed his way back down to her chest, as he started to curl his fingers inside her, never reducing the attention he gave her clit.  
As he started licking her nipples again she felt the familiar feeling of her orgasm approaching.  
“God Giles don’t stop.”   
“Never” came his soft reply as he moved from one nipple to the other.  
His hand kept inching her closer to the edge but he looked up from her chest.  
“Look at me Buffy.”   
She looked down into those familiar soft green eyes with the hazel blotch in the corner of one of them.  
“I love you Buffy” he smiled at her, and she arched her back again in response to him changing the angle of his fingers.  
“Come for me Buffy.” he licked and then bit her nipple and she came, calling out his name.

Buffy woke up in her bed, she was breathing hard and her body had all the evidence of her having had that dream orgasm in real life. She tensed at the thought of having possibly actually called out Giles’ name.   
She’d told herself before bed that she had to examine these feelings she was having for Giles but she felt like that dream had been a fairly clear sign that her feelings for him had changed.


	12. Chapter 12

This time Buffy woke up to Willow knocking on her door and calling her name.  
“I’m up, I’m up” she called back.  
Willow opened the door and came over and dropped down face first on the bed.  
“Men are evil.” she grunted with her face down on the mattress.  
“I thought you figured that out our first year of college.” Buffy prodded Willow until she turned around, kicked off her shoes and crawled under the covers with Buffy.  
“Yes but I still stayed friends with one and he made me get out of bed when I didn’t want to and dragged me all the way over here, making me go to a bakery and talk to people and then another man greeted us being all cheerful and annoying and then they made me walk up all those stairs.” Willow sounded very affronted by the whole experience and Buffy gently patted her head.   
“Sounds like a harrowing morning. I’ll kick their asses for you if you want.”  
Willow brightened at that “I knew it was a good idea to have a Slayer in my corner! But I’ll spare them this once. How are you feeling? No hangover?”  
“I don’t think so, ask me again when I’ve stood up from the bed.”  
Willow just grumbled something in response.  
“I’m just very tired.” Buffy joined Willow in the grumbling and slid further down in the bed pulling the covers all the way up to her chin.   
“Bad night?”  
“Just a very intense dream, feels like I barely slept.”  
Willow’s eyes widened at that “A prophetic one?”  
“No I haven’t had one of those since you called the other Slayers. Just a..” Buffy hesitated glancing her eyes to the door “just an intense dream, I’ll tell you about it when there are less people around.”  
“Sounds saucy” Willow wiggled her eyebrows and then burst out in giggles which she seemed to regret as she clutched at her head and groaned.  
“Willow the plan was for you to get Buffy out of bed not you into one.” Xander came to stand in the doorway to Buffy’s room. “However if the two of you want to” he didn’t get to finish his sentence as a pillow flew into his head.  
“Oww, what was that for.” he asked indignantly.  
“There was no good way for you to end that sentence so let’s just not okay Xander?”  
He just laughed at her “Okay, okay I won’t. It was just such an obvious comment to make. Come on you two there’s food and Giles has some painkillers for your head Will.”  
Willow groaned but got up from the bed.  
“I’m gonna take a quick shower, I’ll be right down.”  
Buffy really felt like she needed a shower after waking up all sweaty from her dream. She couldn’t believe she’d had the most vivid sex dream of her life about Giles.

As she walked down the stairs she heard Giles' voice coming from the kitchen, she took a deep breath, knowing it would be weird to see him but willing herself to act normal.  
She stopped in the doorway to the kitchen and watched Giles cut up some fruit. It surprised her a little that the Giles in her dream looked exactly like the real Giles standing in front of her.  
She thought maybe her mind would make him younger or something but no it had just been Giles like she knows him. Well she didn’t know how he looked naked but her imagination had provided that image easily it seemed. She started to feel her body respond to the thought of naked Giles and what he’d done to her in the dream. Buffy shook her head and walked into the kitchen, heading straight for the table where Willow sat clutching a glass of water and alka-seltzer.   
“Morning” she called over the room at large, not making eye contact with Giles and sat down in the chair next to Willow.  
“Good morning Buffy. Did you sleep well?” Giles asked walking over to the table placing the bowl of fruit in the center.  
“Yeah fine, it was fine.” she answered too quickly and felt herself blush.  
“Are the two of you up for this? We can stay in today if you’re too hungover.” he sounded a little worried.  
“No no, I’m fine, just need some food.” Buffy reached for some bread and poured herself a glass of juice, careful to never meet Giles’ eyes.  
“Yeah I’ll be fine soon, I just need to drink this and eat.” Willow drank the painkillers down and wrinkled her nose at the taste. Buffy passed her the juice she’d just poured before pouring herself another glass.

They chatted as they ate, Xander and Willow telling Giles stories from the party and him telling them about the restaurant he and Sarah had been to. Slowly Buffy managed to get over the feelings that the dream had stirred up and by the time they’d all finished eating she could behave normally around Giles.  
“Why don’t you lie down on the sofa Willow while we clean up.”  
“Thank’s Giles.” Willow answered, still looking very tired as she walked from the kitchen.  
Xander started putting away the food and Giles brought their plates to the sink.  
“Want some tea?” Giles looked a little surprised by the question but he just nodded, letting her by him so she could fill up the kettle before he started washing up.  
She felt his eyes on him as she moved around the kitchen grabbing the mugs he’d been using the past few days and searching through his tea for the one she knew he liked in the morning.  
Buffy dried a few plates while she waited for the kettle to boil and again while she let the tea steep.   
Xander and Giles were finishing up as she poured the milk into both their cups and slid one of them to Giles. She moved to finish drying the glasses and plates but she felt Giles’ hand on her shoulder “Just leave it to dry.” he said, picking up his mug and taking a sip.  
“This is perfect, thank you.” He gave her a soft smile, before walking out of the kitchen.  
“Get yourself together Buffy” she whispered to herself as her heart skipped a beat at his smile. 

They ended up doing only half of what they had planned that day. Willow, Xander and Buffy were all feeling a bit slow and Giles spent the day relentlessly mocking them as they grumbled about their hangovers.  
After quite a bit of walking Giles finally took pity on them and directed them to the nearest tube station. It was packed with people and Buffy felt Giles’ hand wrap around her elbow and tugging her close as people packed around them on all sides trying to make it to their platforms. When their train arrived the four of them squeezed into the carriage and Willow managed to find the only empty seat available and slumped into it. Xander stood next to her but Buffy and Giles moved to the other side of the carriage where Giles leaned up against a wall and pulled Buffy to his side. As the train started moving people kept shuffling around and Buffy found herself pushed closer to Giles. At the next station a few more people got onto the train, Buffy tried to move out of the way of a couple with a kid in a stroller and ended up standing right in front of Giles with very little room between them.  
“I’m sorry” she said when she bumped her shoulder into his chest as the train started moving again.  
“That’s fine” he said simply, briefly stroking her upper arm. The touch made her look up into his eyes, again she was struck by how accurately he’d been represented in her dream, his eyes had been exactly right.   
“You alright Buffy?” he asked softly and she realised she’d been staring into his eyes.  
“Yeah just tired” she looked down at her feet biting her lip.  
“A couple of more stops and then most of the people should get off, then we’ll probably be able to get you a seat.” he leaned down and spoke close to her ear so she could hear him over the noise of the people on the train. His breath on her ear made her shiver and she really hoped he didn’t notice.   
Giles was right and after a few more stops they sat down next to each other a little way away from Willow and Xander.  
Buffy couldn’t remember falling asleep but she woke up to a loud noise and found herself resting her head on Giles’ shoulder.  
“Sorry” she told him and started moving away from him.  
“It’s okay, we still have a few more minutes, just keep resting.” he said as he reached over and briefly placed his hand on her knee brushing it with his thumb before taking his hand away.  
Buffy laid her head back down on Giles’ shoulder simply enjoying the fact that he was comfortable with her invading his personal space like this.

They picked up some food on their way back to Giles’ and ate in the living room, the boys in an armchair each and the girls spread out on the couch. The atmosphere was very lazy, Giles started a fire and they chatted or sat in a comfortable silence.  
At some point Giles’ phone rang and he left the living room to answer it.  
“Which is more expensive?” Willow asked “paying for a taxi to my place or bribing Xander to carry me over there?”   
“You couldn’t afford me” Xander quipped back but stood from his chair walking over to pull Willow up from the couch.  
“I’ll get you home Will, but I think you need to get to sleep if you want to get through work tomorrow without causing some sort of disaster.”  
Buffy just waved as they left the living room not feeling up to leaving her spot under a blanket next to the fire, she just turned a little so her head rested on the armrest and curled herself up into a ball.  
Giles returned with two mugs of tea and found only Buffy in the living room.  
“I didn’t hear them leave.”   
“Willow was having issues with her eyes not staying open so Xander dragged her out of here.”  
Giles just put her mug down on the table by her head and sat on the other end of the couch, pulling one knee up onto the couch while his other leg stretched out in front of him.  
“What?” he suddenly asked her.  
“What?” she asked back confused.  
“You keep looking at me.”  
“Oh, I don’t know I was just thinking.”   
“About?” he raised an eyebrow and turned slightly in his seat so he was facing her.  
“I’m not sure exactly.”  
Giles just kept looking at her pulling the same questioning face waiting for her to say something more.  
“Was that Sarah on the phone?”   
“Yes, are you changing the subject or were you thinking about something to do with her?”  
“You said you thought she was threatened by me.” she sat up, reaching for her cup and resting her shoulder against the back of the couch.  
“You said she didn’t like you, I just offered up a feasible explanation as to why you got that impression.”  
“So she isn’t?”   
Giles took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair.  
“I don’t know, it’s possible. She definitely has some reaction to you.” 

“I think I should go and stay with Willow, I don’t want to mess this up for you I’ve already…” she trailed off having already said more than she’d intended to. She hadn’t actually planned on saying any of it. But staying with Willow was probably a good idea especially now that she was having a hard time just being around Giles. She always wanted to be closer to him, it was an effort not to crawl across the couch just to touch him or kiss him or simply curl up in his arms.  
Giles sat up and leaned forward putting his elbows on his knees, not looking at her.  
“If you want to leave then I won’t stop you.”  
“It’s not that Giles.”  
“Then what Buffy?” he sounded hurt “what did you mean to say, you’ve already what?”  
“I’ve” she hesitated again placing her mug back on the table and pulling her knees up to her chin, resting her left shoulder on the back of the couch. “I’ve already messed up enough of your life, I don’t want to mess up any more.” her voice shook as the feelings she’d been denying to even herself overwhelmed her.  
Giles moved so fast she was actually startled as she felt one of his hands on her shin and the other on her back as he knelt in front of her on the couch.  
“How could you say that Buffy?” he stroked her calf with his thumb   
“How can I not. You left your entire life to move to a place you hated to take care of all of us and all I did was make you miserable. And now you’ve made a good life back here and what do I do, show up and start messing things up for you all over again.” She sounded angrier than she intended but she thought it was at least better than crying.  
“Buffy would you please look at me.”   
She glanced at him, enough to see that he looked worried.  
“Do you really view our relationship like that?”  
“Sometimes, god Giles I treated you like crap for most of the time you were in Sunnydale.” she put her forehead on her knees.  
“No Buffy you really didn’t. We had some truly terrible moments. I'll give you that. Please look at me. I can't have this conversation with your shoulder.”   
Buffy chuckled, turning her head on her knees to look at him.  
He reached out a hand to stroke her cheek before moving up to sit in the middle of the couch and gently pulled on her chin so she’d keep eye contact.  
She turned to face him but pulled her knees as close as she could, resting her chin on them again but she put her toes against his thigh wanting some tiny bit of contact to him as he pulled his hand back from her face.

“Is there a particular event you are feeling bad about or something that brought this on?” when she didn’t say anything he added. “Are you willing to tell me about any of it, because I’m just very surprised that you feel this way.” When she gave him an incredulous look he sighed “Like i said before, I’m not in denial that our relationship has some truly dark periods and we have hurt each other deeply I thought we had left most of that behind us.”  
“Most?”  
Giles sighed again and buried his face in his hands briefly before standing up and walking over to a cabinet on the other side of the room and pulling out a bottle of whisky. He silently offered her a drink and she nodded. He brought the bottle back pouring a little into two tumblers and handing her one as he downed the contents of the other.

“I will never forgive myself for leaving you Buffy and I still have nightmares about the Cruciamentum.” He sighed, it sounded like an effort to get the words out and he slumped back on the sofa.  
“I’m so sorry about leaving you after Angel spent hours torturing you, I should have been around to help you.” She sipped at her drink as he poured himself another drinking this one more slowly.   
Giles turned on the couch so they were face to face again.  
“I’m terribly sorry about at least half of the decisions I made that last year in Sunnydale.”  
“I’m sorry that I took you for granted all those years. I would be dead if I’d had any other Watcher and I never showed you how much you meant to me.” she could hear that shake in her voice again. Giles reached over putting his hand on her leg again.  
“Yes you did Buffy, not all the time but when it counted I knew.”   
“Like when the Council fell and I spent all of zero minutes realising that you were losing family and friends. God Giles all I thought about was myself.”  
“Buffy the Council was an institution that had spent centuries mistreating Slayer after Slayer and your relationship with them was fraught to put it mildly. You were also receiving the news that you were facing the First Evil, to say you had a lot on your mind would be an extraordinary understatement.”  
“You forgive me too easily Giles, I don’t deserve it.”  
“Have you forgiven me for any of the times I’ve failed you?”   
“You’ve never failed me Giles. But those things you mentioned, I don’t hold a grudge about any of that. You partly made up for the Cruciamentum by coming to help me, and since that time I’ve understood more about the pressure you were under.” she gave him a small smile before continuing. “I think you were a little brainwashed from spending almost 20 years in connection with the Council. I understand now how difficult it is to go against the things that shape your world view.”  
Giles’ eyebrows lifted high on his forehead “and you say that I forgive you too easily.” he shook his head before continuing “I knew better, I’d tried to reason with Travers because I knew what I was doing was wrong I should have” She reached out placing her hand on his arm and when he looked up at her she shook her head.  
“They would have taken you away from me if you had. In hindsight I think we got the best result possible out of a shitty situation.”  
He chuckled “Well I’ll try my best to see it that way then. I never faulted you for leaving after you stopped Angel and Acathla.”  
“Willow told me about your injuries. I really should have been there Giles, I just thought about my own pain. You didn’t deserve that. You were always there for me.”  
“Buffy our positions weren’t equal. My whole life was literally a training program to take care of you. Although I never thought of it as a job it was my job to do my utmost to keep you alive. Yours was to save the world and keep yourself alive. Not to take care of me.”  
“You were still my friend and I abandoned you.”   
“You took care of yourself, you survived having to kill your first love. I’ve always been proud of you for that and I think I can honestly say that it never even occurred to me to feel abandoned. I was just worried about your safety and well being.”  
“You just keep convincing me that I don’t deserve you” she laughed.  
“I wouldn’t be saying any of this if I didn’t mean it. You are the single most important person in my life Buffy. We’ve been to hell and back again, almost literally.” He smiled when she laughed again. “This last year of being in so little contact with you has been hard for me, but you seemed happy and that was all I ever wanted for you.”

“Wait, I didn’t finish your list” she said before he could move the conversation along.   
“I’ve spent a lot of time looking back on that last year in Sunnydale. And I won’t make excuses for everything that happened but just looking at my own actions there are so many things that I simply can’t justify or even understand. I think we all underestimated the effect the first had on us. We did awful things and we should apologize to each other but I find forgiveness easier in this case because I feel like we were operating at about half our normal functions. We were terrorized by our worst fears for months and I don’t think we were thinking rationally.”  
Giles nodded “I agree, it took me months to truly come to terms with how much the First affected me. Hearing the worst fears you have about yourself and your closest friends from you dead loved ones…” he trailed off. She slipped her hand into his and they sat quietly for a moment.  
“You leaving did hurt, a lot.”  
Giles buried his face in his hands “I thought I was doing the right thing and for that I have no excuse.”  
“I’ll never know what would have happened if you didn’t leave. To be honest I sometimes think you did the right thing, I know I was avoiding all my issues and I probably needed to face them. But..” she sighed, wrapping her arms around her knees again.  
“One of my first acts after I managed to convince a few Watchers to join the new Council was to send a few out to search for psychology students who knew about our world. You needed support Buffy, much more than I was able to give you but me abandoning you at that moment was a horrible decision and I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”  
He sounded broken and she felt her own heart breaking looking at the pain in his eyes.  
Buffy moved to kneel on the couch next to him, gently laying her hand on his shoulder.  
“You once told me that forgiveness was about compassion, that it was about what people need, not what they deserved. I forgive you Giles for anything you need forgiveness from me for. I just need us to be good.”  
When he looked up at her she thought she saw a little glistening in his eyes.  
“Thank you Buffy.”  
“Do you forgive me?” she asked quietly.  
“I do Buffy, although I think that your infractions in this relationship pale in comparison to mine.”   
She put her hand on his knee to stop him talking.  
“I feel I need your forgiveness, at least for neglecting you through the years even if you try to explain away the rest. Help me believe that I’m not one bad move away from losing you.”  
“Oh god Buffy” he pulled her into his arms, placing her head in the crook of his neck and holding her tightly. “How could you ever think that.”  
They stayed like that for a while, Giles holding her to him making no move to let her go and Buffy just waiting for all of the emotions of the evening to settle down.   
“I don’t think we’ve ever talked so much about our feelings.” she said laughing when she felt she’d calmed down.  
Giles laughed and pulled her even tighter to him before letting her go.  
“I think we needed to clear the air, we should have probably done it months ago, but maybe it took us this long to put it all in perspective.”  
“Clean slate? We are both forgiven and we promise to remember we are on the same side from now on.”  
Giles smiled broadly at that and reached for both of their glasses, refilling them and handing her glass over and raising his.  
“To clean slates” he continued smiling and they didn’t break eye contact as they each took a drink.  
“So will you stay.” he asked quietly after a moment, obviously worried about her reaction.  
“I really don’t want to cause you any problems...if Sarah is not okay with this Giles.”  
“I really don’t want you to leave Buffy.”  
“Then I’ll stay.”


	13. Chapter 13

Buffy spent the morning wandering around the Council building and ended up in the meditation room. She lit some lavender and sandalwood incense and found a CD with sounds of the ocean. Finally she grabbed some pillows before settling down on the floor. She took a deep breath, the lavender reminded her of her bedroom in Sunnydale and the sounds of the oceans brought her back to days spent at the beach with her friends before her calling. The sandalwood reminded her of Giles, it wasn’t his cologne, maybe his soap she wasn’t sure but anytime she got close enough to note his scent she could smell sandalwood.

She’d been in London for just over three days but she felt like her world had shifted in that time.  
Giles’ Council was even further from the old one than she’d thought and she didn’t feel out of place being here. The conversation last night between her and Giles had been a long time coming, she found it surprising how well they’d dealt with it. So often when they’d tried to talk to each other in the past their conversation would escalate out of control, but last night they’d both been open about their feelings and they’d managed to actually work out some of their past issues. She had no doubt that they would need to discuss some of those things again but she felt less anxious about it.

Her feelings for Giles however. She tried to figure out when they’d started, when she’d first thought that he was handsome or wanted to be in his arms. She couldn’t be sure, but she was sure that when she saw him in Paris she had thought of him differently than she did when she was in high school. Now she wanted to do things to him that would have made 16 year old Buffy go ‘Eww’. She really wanted to know if he’d live up to the Giles in her dream.  
Buffy sighed and let herself fall back on the pillows behind her.

She heard the door open and turned her head to see who it was.  
“Oh sorry I didn’t think anyone was in here.” It was Sean, he was wearing a well tailored dark grey suit and a t-shirt under it instead of button up and looked like he’d just come back from a photo shoot. Buffy thought to herself that maybe if she just focused on how handsome Sean was she could use that to put these Giles feelings behind her.   
“No it’s fine, I seem to have lost my knack for meditation so you’re not interrupting anything other than me lying around.”  
Sean chuckled at that, a deep warm sound, yes she could definitely focus on Sean for a while.  
“Well helping Slayers meditate is literally my job, you want some guidance?” he leaned against the wall next to the door.  
“No thanks, I’ll stick to my Watcher if I need help.” She got up from the floor and started putting the pillows back.  
“You don’t have to leave, I just came in here to clear up before the girls show up.”  
“No I should get back to Giles, I’m meeting him and the others for lunch soon.”  
“Okay, well I’d like the girls to warm up before the sparring session, you’re more than welcome to join us for that.” he smiled as he held the door open for her.  
“That’s probably a good idea, I’ll admit to some soreness after the last session.”  
“Ok just join us when you want, and if you change your mind about only wanting to work with your Watcher” he had a small teasing smile as he spoke “then I’d love to work with you sometime, mediation or whatever I think we could learn from each other.”  
“I’ll think about it, I’ll see you later.”   
She walked out of the training room with a little flutter in her stomach.

She got off the elevator and walked towards Giles’ office, people had stopped whispering when they saw her but there was still a lot of staring. She noticed there were people in Giles’ office, sitting around his conference table, and she hesitated, she wasn’t supposed to be here for another 10 minutes so of course he was busy.   
“Can I help you?” Buffy turned to see a woman sitting at a desk in front of Giles’ office. She was about the same age as Buffy, with short dark hair, bright blue eyes, wearing a black pantsuit over a black button up shirt. She also had septum and eyebrow piercings which seemed so unlikely of a secretary in this office that it made Buffy like her instantly.  
“You’re Giles’ secretary?”   
“Well the title is personal assistant, I think it’s only an update in terminology though. Oh you must be Buffy!” She talked really fast and excitedly reminding Buffy a little of Willow. “I’m Mel, it’s so nice to meet you, everyone’s been talking about you.”  
Buffy blushed at that and decided to quickly move the conversation on.  
“Nice to meet you too, can you just tell him I’ll meet him downstairs?”  
“No, he said to send you in, so just go ahead.” Without waiting for Buffy’s reply Mel turned around and lightly knocked on Giles’ door and opened it.  
“Buffy’s here” she said simply before walking back to her desk.  
Buffy awkwardly went into the office closing the door behind her.  
Giles had stood up from his seat when Mel opened the door and he came over to stand next to Buffy.  
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Buffy Summers, she’s here to train with our Slayers later today.”  
He offered her a seat next to him at the table “We were just discussing how much training the Slayers actually need before they have their first field experience.”  
It seemed like he was including her in the discussion and there was a bit of a glint in his eye.  
“Like I was saying.” Said an older man in a dark old fashioned tweed suit who sat on the other end of the table. He looked a little annoyed at the interruption “I think you’re being overprotective.”  
Buffy narrowed her eyes at Giles who just shrugged, “I simply don’t agree with you. I think that now that we have more and more girls coming in there is no need to send them out there before they’ve mastered a few basics.”  
“Wait how long do you want to train them and what kind of field experience?” She kept looking at Giles as she spoke.  
“I think a couple of months to learn their own strength and at least the basics of a few different fighting styles and then we should take them out on patrol in small groups with Watchers and more experienced Slayers as back up.”  
Buffy bit back a quip about Watchers with their tendency of getting knocked out not being that helpful. “Sounds fair, I didn’t get any training before I faced my first vamp but I would have appreciated knowing a little more about what I was capable of. But I might agree that you’re being overprotective.” she hesitated slightly worried that Giles wouldn’t like that she didn’t take his side. He just gave her a brief nod so she kept going. “They need to know how an actual fight feels, what it’s like to think through all that adrenalin and what the difference is between sparring and fighting something that actually wants to kill you and will fight dirty.”  
No one seemed to be willing to object to her.  
“But I think that you need to make sure that there are plenty of more experienced Slayers with them to step in, expect the new girls to freeze and freak out and I’m sorry but the Watchers aren’t as helpful as having other Slayers around. Plus it will teach them to work together.”  
“Fair point.” Giles said, tapping the table with his fingertips a few times before looking up at the group.  
“Two weeks? How does that sound? That should be enough for them to learn the absolute basics and then they are brought out with two experienced Slayers and one Watcher with every three trainees.”  
It was clear that the people at the table were not expecting him to change his mind so easily but everyone nodded.  
“Are they allowed to say no?” Buffy asked Giles.  
“To patrol?”  
“That first one, like can they ask for more training if they feel they aren’t ready.”  
“Of course, if they are willing to admit that they aren’t ready that is.”  
“Hmm” she stood up from the table walking over to Giles’ desk and perching against it trying to set herself in the mindset of a teenager. Giles was right they probably wouldn’t be willing to admit that they were too scared or didn’t trust themselves in a fight yet.  
“I think we’ll call it a day but that look tells me you’ll be hearing from Miss Summers again in the coming days.” she heard some laughter but didn’t look up. “Just start setting up a schedule based on what we’ve discussed so far.”  
Giles dismissed the group and came over to sit next to Buffy on the desk.  
“You know you don’t have to solve this issue.”   
“Yeah but it’s a bad situation you know, feeling not ready when everyone else is. Is it okay if I think about it and maybe make some suggestions.”  
Giles’ smile was soft but there was something in his eyes that told her he was very happy about her meddling with the Council.  
“Of course I’d very much appreciate your input.”

They finished lunch and Buffy went to change and meet up with the Slayers.  
When she walked into the training room a buzz went through the group but they were calmer than last time.   
Sean came over to her, he had changed into workout clothes.  
“Welcome back Miss Summers,” he gave her a small wink and a smile turning his back to the Slayers “are you joining us for the warm up?”  
She nodded and walked over to join the girls.   
Sean led them through some yoga poses and stretches and the group slowly seemed to get used to having Buffy around.  
As the Slayers spread out and they got ready for some sparring Sean walked over and stopped besides her.  
“So I don’t intend to critique you but is it okay if I point out some of your moves to the girls? You know try to make it more of a learning experience.”  
“Yeah that’s fine. You’re allowed to critique me by the way”  
“I wouldn’t dare critique ‘The Slayer’,” he spoke the title dramatically and then laughed before calling out to the girls “who wants to go first?”   
A tall dark haired girl offered to go first when no one else did, she came to stand opposite Buffy and when she didn’t move Buffy threw the first punch which the girl narrowly blocked.

At least an hour went by, Buffy sparring with a different girl every 15 minutes or so before Sean called out for a break. The girls all went to get water or snacks, some of them repeating the warm up routine. Sean and Buffy sat off to the side and she did some light stretching observing the girls.  
“You are very good with them, I can’t imagine training so many teenagers.” She smiled at him as she twisted her back to release some of the tension in it.  
“It was daunting to begin with and I’ll admit to some nerves every time there’s a big group of newbies but it has actually worked out better than I thought. But they are on their best behaviour with you around, maybe showing off a bit but they’re all unusually keen.”

They went back to sparring and after another hour Sean called for another break and again he joined Buffy while she stretched. She sat on the floor bending over her outstretched legs.  
“Is your back bothering you?”  
“Just a little tense, nothing serious, I guess it’s been too long since I’ve properly trained.” She got up continuing to move her back trying to increase the blood flow to her muscles.  
“Well you can’t tell by your form, the girls really don’t stand a chance against you.” he whispered making sure the Slayers couldn’t hear, then adding “Let’s take a longer break you’ve been fighting for two hours and still have a few more girls to go.”  
“Yeah okay that sounds like a good idea.”  
“Hey girls let’s take 30 minutes, go get some food or something.”

Buffy laid down on her back on the mat when all the girls had gone, lifting her knees to her chest stretching her lower back.  
“Do you want some help?” he offered, sitting down next to her.  
“No thanks, it's nothing too bad. God I would have killed for this training room.” She groaned as she reached for a foam roller that had been left by the wall next to her.  
“Is it true you actually trained in your school library?”  
She laughed thinking back to trying to train in that tiny space.”Yeah the space we had was about the size of the meditation room. It seems ridiculous when I think back on it. But we did what we could with what we had.”  
They chatted for a while, Buffy told him some stories from Sunnydale and Sean told her how he’d accidentally stumbled on the world of demons when he was attacked by a vampire walking home one night.  
“I’ve studied martial arts all my life but I had never fought anything like that, but then he disappeared in a cloud of dust. Turns out I was lucky, or you know as lucky as a guy who gets attacked by a vampire can be. Your friends Xander and Willow were there with some Slayers. Saved my life. They ended up roping me into this whole thing.” 

The girls came back and Buffy started sparring again, she noticed that they had an audience, about 20 people including Willow and Xander, had lined up against the far wall.  
She could have sworn she felt when Giles entered the room, maybe just because the people watching reacted to their boss showing up or the Slayers were intimidated by him, she wasn’t sure what it was but she knew instantly when he entered the room even though she couldn’t see it since she was sparring.  
Sean walked over to Giles and in the brief glimpses she could catch of them she saw them talking and Sean pointing at her.   
She kept her head in the fight, trying not to let Giles distract her when all of a sudden Sean called out for them to stop.  
Both she and the girl she was fighting stopped instantly and turned to look at Sean trying to figure out why he’d stopped the fight.  
Buffy saw Giles walking towards her with Sean following behind.  
“You're favouring your left side, are you hurt?” Giles asked, taking off his jacket and slinging it over a bench close by before coming up behind Buffy and running his fingertips over the muscles around her shoulder blade.  
Her breath hitched when his fingers stroked her bare skin, he’d touched her this way many times before but this time she wanted to lean into it.  
“No I’m fine.”  
“Her backs bothering her” Sean interjected and she narrowed her eyes at him.  
“Hey I offered to help you twice today and you refused. If he’s the only one that’s allowed to help you then you have to let him. You can’t just keep exacerbating that injury.”  
Giles raised an eyebrow at her and she blushed, hoping it wasn’t noticeable since her cheeks were probably a little red from the fighting.  
“I’m fine” she insisted but didn’t move away from his touch.  
“Is this from the vampire on Friday?”  
“Kind of, but it got better but now it’s worse. But it’s nothing Giles, I’ve fought with much worse injuries than this.”  
“Yes but now you don’t have to” he said softly as he used his other hand to move her shoulder, testing how the muscles responded to the movement.  
“Not right now but every Slayer should learn to fight even when their body isn’t up for it.” She gestured to the girls with her other hand.  
“How many fights are left?” he sighed.  
“Well we didn’t finish that one and then there was one more.”  
Giles gestured for her to continue and stepped back.   
They started the fight again but the girl was more tentative than before.  
Giles quickly stopped the fight again.  
“You’re Mary right?” he asked the other Slayer.  
“Yes, sir.”  
“Did you hear why I stopped the fight the first time?”  
“Yes, sir, because of her injury.”  
“And do you know where her injury is?”  
“Yes sir, below her right shoulder.”  
“Did you know of her injury before I stopped the fight?”  
“I thought she might be shielding that side but I wasn’t sure, sir.”  
“Then why aren’t you using this to your advantage?”  
The girls jaw dropped and Buffy couldn’t help but laugh.  
“I think you need to train these girls to fight a little dirtier Sean.”   
Sean rubbed the back of his neck looking a little embarrassed.  
“Come on, finish up these fights, I want you to ice that shoulder.” Giles said, sounding a bit impatient.  
Buffy started fighting the last girl who went all in on her right side.  
“You’ve got the point but you’re becoming predictable instead, mix it up.” she told the girl and by the end of the fight she could see a real improvement in her.

When the fight ended the girl walked away to join the other Slayers who were getting some instructions from Sean while Buffy stayed behind and started stretching. Giles came up next to her crossing his arms and looking down at her on the floor.  
“Are you ok? Do you need me to look at it?”  
“Nah I’m fine. I’ll be good in a few hours.”   
Buffy saw Willow and Sarah leave the crowd of watchers to come over and join them while Xander stood by the exit talking on the phone.  
“So what was that about Sean offering to help you twice today?” Willow said in a teasing tone.  
“I was trying to meditate this morning, it didn’t go well.” She tried to laugh hoping no one would ask why.  
“And you wouldn’t let him help you, I’m told he’s actually very good.”  
“I already have a Watcher, don’t need another one.”   
Out of the corner of her eye Buffy noticed a small almost smug smile on Giles’ face at her words.  
“Come on let’s call it a day.” he said offering her his hand and helping her up.  
“Hey Buffy!” Sean called out “If you’d like to join us again you’re more than welcome. I’ll make sure it doesn’t involve three hour fights.” he gave her a dazzling smile and a wink.  
“Thanks, I’ll keep that in mind.”

Xander joined them when they reached the exit.  
“Giles I just spoke to Burton and Wright and it looks like I’m the one going to Thailand, Tasha is sick and everyone else is on assignment.”  
“You’re leaving?” Buffy and Willow asked in the same sad tone.  
“Yeah and pretty much now, but the Slayer is in Bangkok so I can be there by tomorrow and then hopefully be back by Friday.” he turned to face Buffy “Will you still be here? I’d hate to miss out the rest of your visit.” There was genuine sadness in his eyes and she couldn’t help but hug him briefly.   
“For you Xander I think I can stay a little longer. I’ll at least stay another week, so if you come back on Friday we’ll have the whole weekend.”   
Xander put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in tightly.  
Buffy couldn’t tell if it was her imagination or if Sarah actually seemed very to stiffen slightly at Buffy’s promise to stay.  
“I need to talk to a couple of people and then I’ll be off so I guess I’ll just see you guys in a few days.”  
Willow hugged Xander and then he went back into the training room while the rest of them got on the elevator Giles leaned up against the wall still holding his jacket.   
“Watching that I have to admit that you were right this morning,” he said looking at the opposite wall, deep in thought “the fighting is so different when you take them out of these circumstances, they should get a taste of that early on.”  
“What happened this morning?” Willow asked curiously.  
“I just had some opinions on the Council's plan for the Slayers. I’ve had some ideas about the other stuff we discussed.”  
“We have another meeting on Wednesday if you want to join.” Giles offered.  
“I thought I could just tell you.”  
Giles’ face betrayed the smallest sign of disappointment and Buffy hated it, she could go to a meeting if it made him happy.  
“But sure, sounds fun to fight with that old guy.” She said at the same time as he said.  
“Of course you can just tell me and I’ll pass it on.”   
They both laughed and Giles added “You can decide later.”  
“You left people talking after that meeting” Sarah said, her tone was soft but the look she gave Buffy wasn’t friendly “evidently people had never seen anyone change your mind so easily Rupert.” She raised an eyebrow at him a little teasingly.  
“I’m usually arguing with other Watchers advocating for the Slayers, I value Buffy’s opinion over theirs or mine on that subject.” he sounded a little defensive and Buffy got that pit in her stomach again, feeling like she was messing things up for Giles.   
“You okay there Buff?” Willow asked “you kind of zoned out.”  
Buffy realised she’d missed the next part of the conversation and that the elevator doors had opened and Willow and Sarah were getting off.   
“Yeah sorry, I’m fine.” she shook herself a little bit.  
“I’ll see you downstairs in a minute.” Willow said as the doors closed.

They had another take away dinner at Giles’. Xander called and told them what flight he was on and discussed some plans with Giles.   
Willow left fairly early and Buffy and Giles were once again alone in his living room drinking tea.  
“Are you willing to admit that your shoulder and back are still bothering you?” he asked, silently daring her to deny that she felt any pain.  
“It’s just sore from all the fighting. I promise it’s fine.”  
“Why are you so reluctant to admit you’re in pain?”   
She knew what the reason was but telling Giles that she didn’t want him to touch her because it would make her more confused about her feelings wasn’t an option.  
“Why won’t you just believe me when I say I’ll be fine tomorrow.”  
His brow furrowed a little but then his face went blank “I’m sorry I’ll leave it alone.”  
She’d hurt him again, twice in a day, she would push him away if she didn’t get her feelings under control.  
“No I’m sorry, you can check it out. But I promise it’s fine.”  
She took off her sweatshirt so she was just in a tank top and stood up walking over to the part of the room where there was some free space on the floor.  
Giles didn’t follow her immediately but when she tilted her head at him in question he stood up and walked behind her gently laying one hand on her right shoulder and holding her arm with the other moving the arm to assess her range of motion. His hands felt warm and strong as his long fingers traveled in gentle circular motions around her shoulder blade and she couldn’t help wincing in pain when he pressed a sore spot under the blade. She heard him give a soft huff but he didn’t say anything.  
“Go and sit on the couch, facing the door, you don’t need to stand for this. I’ll be right back.”  
She did what he’d asked, sitting sideways on the sofa. She moved the strap of her tank top on the side of her injury down from her shoulder and tucked it into her top. She focused on her breathing, trying to keep it steady, the effect of Giles’ hands on her skin had been immediate and she needed to make sure he didn’t notice.  
Giles returned with massage oil and sat behind her on the couch. He slowly started to massage her shoulders and then moved down rubbing away the knots on either side of her spine between her shoulder blades. His hands were steady and he expertly worked on each knot as he found them. When she’d relaxed a little he moved to the sensitive area under her shoulder blade. She hissed and moved away when he pressed on a particularly sore spot. Her breath caught when Giles moved his hand a little, his fingertips grabbing her ribs just under her breast as he tried to steady her. Buffy told herself that she got away with it since he would think her breathing was affected by the pain, not the position of his fingers on her body.  
As the pain slowly eased Giles moved back to massaging her shoulders for a short moment and then he pulled away.  
“Go take a long hot shower and then hopefully you’ll be good tomorrow.”  
“Thank you Giles, see you tomorrow.” she could barely look at him as she quickly left the living room.


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two short chapters today (14&15), I'm going to try to post the rest of the story more frequently.

Willow opened the door to her apartment and Buffy made a beeline for the couch throwing herself down on it.  
“I think I walked a 100 miles today” she sighed, taking off her shoes and rubbing her feet.  
“The pizza’s on it’s way and I’ve got a few bottles of wine right here so you shouldn’t have to walk for hours. Was Giles okay about not being invited?”  
“I used the phrase girls night so he was very much fine with it, I think he’s planning an evening with Sarah instead.”  
Willow poured them each a glass of wine before sitting down next to Buffy on the couch.   
“How was yesterday, you know training with the Slayers and joining Giles for a meeting, all around Council day?”  
“Joining Giles was very brief but also fun, even though I was disagreeing with him it felt like we were a team you know.”   
“You two have been very close for the past few days, like you found your groove again.” Willow beamed “all feels right with the world when you two are in sync.”   
“We actually had a real heart to heart the other day. It was weird because Giles is usually not much of a heart to heart kind of guy.”  
“That isn’t true though is it. He’s not an open book, but he definitely has a soft side especially when it comes to you.”  
“Yeah but this was like laying it all out there, we talked about all the times we felt we’d let the other one down and tried to work through some of it. We won’t fix it all in a night but it felt freeing, I agree the world is better when me and Giles are on the same side of things.”  
“Wow so like you talked about that last year in Sunnydale.”  
“That last year, him leaving, me leaving, the Cruciamentum, Angel, all of it. Or at least all the biggest stuff that came to mind, it was a bit overwhelming but it was like a cleansing.”  
“Wow, that’s great Buffy. Surprisingly emotionally mature of you two.” Willow teased.

The doorbell rang and Willow went downstairs to get the pizza.  
“So how was the training with the Slayers and with Sean.” Willow wiggled her eyebrows at the name.  
Buffy laughed at her reaching for a slice of pizza.   
“Training was hard actually, I haven't done anything like that for a long time. But it was fun.”  
“And Sean?”  
“Please tell me you aren’t trying to be a matchmaker Will.”  
“No, nothing like that. But he’s gorgeous and he seems to really like you.”  
“Yeah he really is.” Buffy had a mental image of him in that suit leaning up against a wall in the meditation room. “Hey did you hear what he and Giles were talking about yesterday? While I was sparring.”  
“Hmm yeah,” Willow thought for a moment and then her face lit up “Sean called you amazing.” she fluttered her eyes at Buffy “and Giles said something like preaching to the choir, you know not actually that but that’s what he meant. And then I couldn’t hear everything but I heard Sean ask something about how loyal you were to him, Giles that is, and Giles got all awkward and proud it was kind of cute.”  
Buffy got butterflies in her stomach at that but then she groaned and slumped back on the couch.  
“Okay” Willow said, sounding very confused “what happened there?”  
“I have to tell you something, you’ll think I’m insane!” Buffy sighed, grabbing a pillow and pressing it to her face for a moment before dropping it and turning to face Willow “But I really have to tell you because I think I’m literally losing my mind.”  
Willow dropped the crust of her pizza into the box and reached for the bottle of wine, refilling their glasses before turning to sit sideways on the couch so they were face to face.  
“What’s up Buff, you can tell me anything you know that, I promise I won’t think you’re insane.”  
Buffy sighed, took a large drink of her wine and then sighed again.  
“I don’t know when it happened…I don't know how it happened, I don’t actually know if it actually happened or if I just lost my mind after coming to London.”  
“Buffy you make no sense.”  
“I think I have feelings for Giles.”  
Willow's face seemed to elongate as her jaw dropped and her eyebrows shot up to her hairline.  
“See you think I’m insane.”  
Willow stood up from the couch, walked a few steps and then returned sitting down in the same position.   
“Are you serious?” it was almost a whisper.  
“Yeah.”  
“But you said you weren’t sure.”  
“In some ways I’m very very sure,” Buffy sighed “In other ways it just can’t be, right?”  
“Ok so in what ways are you sure?”  
“I have no control over my thoughts when I’m around him, I keep thinking about how nice it would be to curl up in his arms or how good he looks in certain clothes.”  
Willow gaped at her, slightly shaking her head.  
“And I just feel so safe with him and we’ve been having all of these nice moments when it’s just the two of us and I just want more.” she sighed “and remember I mentioned that dream I had a few nights ago.”  
“Yes” Willow was clearly trying to remember what Buffy had said. “Oh my god did you have a sex dream about Giles?” she spoke so fast that it all came out as one word.  
“The sexiest of sex dreams!” Buffy gushed “seriously it was intense and so specific and I just couldn’t look at him the next day without blushing.” Buffy dropped the cushion she’d been twirling in her hands into her lap and bent over double burying her face in it. “How did this happen Will?” she groaned into the pillow.  
“Ok wait so those were all the reasons why you think you have feelings for him. Why are you doubting them?”  
Buffy sat up straight looking at Willow again.  
“Because you said I get possessive!” she knew she sounded accusatory, but it felt good to temporarily blame someone else for any of this. “What if this is just all about me being jealous of him and Sarah or something.”  
“I’d expect you to take that out on Sarah not start thinking about Giles in a romantic way. When you think back on the last couple of weeks since you guys met in Paris what’s the first thing that you can remember that was anything remotely like this. You know not something that you realised at the time but when you think about it now.”  
“Uhm” Buffy thought back “I thought he looked good when I saw him in Paris, but that was mostly just his fancy suit. I remember wanting to throw myself in his arms and when we hugged I didn’t want to let go. But I think that was mostly about missing him.”  
“Okay” Willow drew out the word, clearly hoping that Buffy would keep talking.  
“When we got to his house I was cold and he gave me his sweater and all I could think about was how nice it was to be wrapped up in his smell and I slept in the sweater.” she could feel her whole face get hot as she blushed fiercely at the admission and Willows eyebrows shot up again.  
“And then I sprayed the sweater with his cologne again when the smell wore off” she bent down to bury her face in the pillow again, not daring to face Willow.  
To her surprise Willow burst out laughing.  
“Wow Buffy that is insane. Are you going to tell him?”  
Buffy sat up so fast she almost gave herself whiplash.  
“Tell him?? Why would I tell him? Of course I’m not going to tell him, we just worked out our issues and we are in a good place and everything would be awkward and he’s in a relationship.” Her voice had gotten so high she didn’t even recognise it.  
“Buffy do you think your relationship will survive you hiding this from him?”  
“No” she sighed “I’ve already hurt him a couple of times when I try to get out of situations I think will be awkward for me.”  
They sat in silence for a while, each of them just sipping their wine.  
“I really can’t tell him Will.”  
“I think you might regret it if you don’t.”


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two short chapters today (14&15), I'm going to try to post the rest of the story more frequently.

Buffy walked slowly on her way home. Willow was right. If she stayed in London and didn’t tell Giles how she felt she would probably push him away. If she left London now she would hurt his feelings. She also just didn’t want to leave London yet.   
But every time she thought about telling Giles her heart started pounding in her chest.  
She just found her way back to her family, she and Giles just opened up to each other about the issues in their past and started trying to work through them would she lose all of that if she shared her feelings.  
She hadn’t really noticed the walk home, simply lost in thought about what she could gain and what she could lose, she was a little surprised to find herself walking up the steps to Giles’ house. There was no light in any of the windows and when she opened the door she found herself in a quiet, dark house.  
There was no chance she could fall asleep now, with her head so full, so she went to the kitchen and hoped she could make tea without waking Giles up.

She was standing by the kettle so she could stop it from whistling when she heard footsteps on the stairs.   
“I thought I’d heard something.” Giles appeared in the doorway to the kitchen, he was dressed in dark pyjama bottoms and a white t-shirt.  
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?”   
“No, no I was up.” he stepped further into the kitchen and grabbed two mugs and a box of tea leaves. “How was your evening?”   
“It was fun, some wine, some pizza, a lot of talking.” Buffy stepped back as Giles took over the tea making process.  
Buffy looked at him for a moment before she felt her stomach clench, had he spent his night with Sarah, was she upstairs. She tried to remember if she’d seen Sarah's coat by the door.  
“Yours?” she asked tentatively.  
“Quiet.”  
Buffy started releasing the breath she’d been holding but then realised that answered none of her questions.  
Giles handed her mug over and they sat down at the table.  
“So am I getting close to overstaying my welcome?”  
“Buffy, how many times”  
“I just ask” she interrupted him “because I was thinking about staying a little longer, maybe a couple of weeks or a month. Try to find some work, save some money before I move on.”  
Giles started smiling as she spoke. “And I just think that is a bit too long.”  
“Stay as long as you want” now he interrupted her. “I like having you here Buffy, you’ll hopefully believe that one day.”   
“I do and I really like staying here, but I won’t be hurt if you ask me to stay somewhere else.” she knew that was a lie but she had to offer it.  
He just raised his eyebrow and pursed his lips at that, obviously tired of the conversation.  
“I was thinking I could go to that bar we went to and see if they needed a waitress, I have experience and bars like that often hire people on a short term basis.”  
“Hmm” Giles seemed to be struggling with what to say “I just think if you work in the evenings and the rest of us during the day we won’t get to see you.”   
“That’s a good point actually. Any coffee shops or anything like that close by?”  
Giles was quiet for a moment, moving his mug in circles on the table.  
“The other day you told me that I shouldn’t worry that you would feel pressured if I mentioned the Council.” he spoke softly a bit like he was worried she would run away from the conversation. “I’ve been thinking, remember when I told Sean yesterday that we needed to train the girls to fight a little dirtier?”   
Buffy just nodded.   
“Well I’ve been thinking, Sean is an excellent trainer, he has extensive experience with various types of martial arts and is very good with the Slayers. However he is very good at winning a fair fight.”   
Buffy laughed a little, “Not many of those waiting for the Slayers.”  
“Precisely. He is excellent in teaching technique and method but he doesn’t have much experience with actual battle. You can of course say no and I’ll never mention this again but I was thinking that you could give the girls some private lessons or train them in small groups. Just what we were discussing with them yesterday, finding weakness and using it to your advantage and fighting through injuries. ”   
Buffy thought for a moment and Giles continued talking to fill the silence. “We could just do it on a week to week basis. Try it for a week and if you like it we can try another week and so forth until you want to leave, the work or London, or both.”  
Something in his tone spoke of his sadness over the thought of her leaving and it made Buffy feel all warm inside. Giles really wanted her to stay.  
“That sounds great.” She wasn’t actually sure that she was ready to work at the Council but it meant some more time with Giles and if she ignored the Council part of it she was pretty sure she’d enjoy working with the Slayers.  
“Really?” Giles’ face lit up and it made her want to hug him.  
“Yes, lets try it out.”  
“Okay so you join that meeting tomorrow like we’d planned and then we can set up some schedule?”   
“Sounds like a plan.”

They walked up the stairs together and Giles turned to go to his room.  
“Hey Giles?” he turned around to face her.  
“Thanks”   
He tilted his head in question and she laughed at the fact that he couldn’t even imagine why she was thanking him. “You know for putting a roof over my head, helping with my injuries, hiring me and the whole time being considerate of my feelings towards the Council.”  
He just chuckled and tried to brush it off.  
“No really Giles, remember I don’t intend to take you for granted anymore. You may feel like it’s part of your job or something but I’m really grateful.”  
Giles reached out his hand and stroked her upper arm.  
“I don’t consider any of this part of my job, well maybe hiring you.” They both laughed a little “but the rest, I just want you to be happy and I like having you around so you’re more than welcome.”  
Buffy moved a step forward and wrapped her arms around his waist and felt him return the hug immediately. His strong arms surrounding her and holding her tightly to his chest. They stood there like that for a long moment.   
When he let her go they just smiled at each other and then silently went to their rooms.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two short chapters this time (16 & 17) and I've updated the chapter count so you can see we're getting closer to the end of this one.

Buffy laid in bed trying to figure out how to tell Giles. She always came to the conclusion that she shouldn’t but she had to admit that she would probably spend at least the next months, maybe even years wondering what he would have said if she’d told him.   
But it felt unfair to him to tell him now, what was he supposed to do with this information when he was with Sarah.  
After a lot of tossing and turning she finally fell asleep imagining all the different scenarios of how she could tell him and how he could react.

Her dreams all revolved around Giles.  
He was at the other end of a long hallway and whenever she took a step forward he moved further away.

She was laying on a couch, his strong arms wrapped around her and she rested back against his chest as he told her a story from his past. His deep voice surrounding her as much as his arms and she couldn’t remember ever feeling as safe.

Buffy sat between Willow and Xander at a table, she could see Sarah and Giles standing against a bar on the other side of the room. He laughed at something she said and cupped her face in his hand before leaning in to kiss her. Sarah put both her hands on his chest as they kissed deeply. Buffy felt her blood run cold as she tried not to let Xander and Willow see her reaction.

She was lying naked in a large bed, white sheets covered her body and sunlight streamed through a window to her left. The bed dipped beside her as Giles crawled under the covers with her, sliding his arm under her neck and wrapping his other arm and a leg over her body pulling her close to him. She felt every part of her body make contact with his as he moved to lie on top of her. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his waist as she told him that she loved him. The heat of his skin against hers was intoxicating and he bent down to whisper his love for her in her ear before kissing his way down her neck.

She stood on the front steps of his house as he slammed the door in her face and she watched him walk away through the window. Tears ran down her face as she banged on the door and called his name but he never looked back.

Giles stood on the other side of the landing in dark slacks and a black t-shirt. His eyes roamed over her body before he took three long steps towards her, lifting her up and pinning her up against the wall. His hands ran from her knees up her thighs and gripped her hips as he pressed himself against her. She put both hands on the sides of his face looking deep into his eyes before kissing him passionately. She moaned as he trailed kisses over her jaw and down to her collarbone. “I want you” he whispered in her ear.

Buffy woke up tangled in her covers, she was breathing heavily, her nipples were hard and she could feel the slick wetness between her legs. She sighed, dragging a hand over her face. Those nightmares had been devastating but those dreams. She could still feel his arms wrapped around her, his lips on her neck and his erection between her legs. She ran her hand down her stomach and into her underwear, gently massaging her clit. She imagined Giles’ fingers touching her like this while he kissed her. His long fingers dipping into her as he talked into her ear, his deep sexy voice sending chills down her spine. Her orgasm came quickly, making her bite her lip to stop herself from crying out.  
The room felt unusually hot and she kicked off her pyjama bottoms before curling up with her face in her pillow.


	17. Chapter 17

Buffy stretched out in her bed, she didn’t have any big plans for the morning but she had to be at the Council later in the day for her meeting with Giles.  
Just the thought of him brought a smile to her face and butterflies to her stomach and she rubbed the fabric of his sweater between her fingers. 

She decided to shower and go explore the neighbourhood. Buffy rolled out of the bed, opened her bedroom door and walked straight into Sarah.  
“Oh sorry I was just” she wasn’t sure what she was apologizing for but then she looked down and saw that she was just wearing Giles’ sweater, that thankfully went down to mid thigh. She tried to awkwardly smile at Sarah before backing up and closing the door again.  
Buffy sat down on the bed, resting against the headboard, she pulled the covers over herself and just stared at the opposite wall.  
She’d assumed that Giles and Sarah were sleeping together but seeing her here first thing in the morning was more proof than she’d needed. She sat on the bed listening as Sarah and Giles left for work, willing herself not to cry.

When she heard the front door close she waited a few more minutes to make sure that both of them had left before getting out of bed again determined to not let this affect her day.  
She took a long shower but she was inundated by thoughts of hugging Giles before going to bed last night and then seeing Sarah this morning.   
After getting ready she went downstairs and sat in the kitchen with a cup of tea trying to organize her thoughts. She went over all the times she and Giles had been alone, all the moments that made her realise her feelings for him but her brain kept going back to seeing Sarah on the landing or seeing him greet Sarah with a kiss a few days earlier.   
She ran both hands through her hair in frustration and decided she should go on the walk she’d planned.

Wandering around Giles’ neighbourhood she had to admit that last night she had started to hope that Giles could possibly feel the same way as she did. She’d always thought it was inconceivable but after all their quiet moments and all their hugs she had started to get her hopes up.  
She sighed, feeling her heart ache over the situation she found herself in. It didn’t really matter if there was a tiny possibility that Giles might share her feelings, he was with Sarah and if Buffy would go to him now and tell him how she felt she’d be putting him in an awful position. The risk of hurting him was just too high, as long as he was happy with Sarah she would keep her feelings to herself. She needed to move on.

“Buffy?”   
She looked up as a familiar voice called her name and saw Josh from the bar smiling at her.  
“Oh hi, Josh.”  
“You looked a bit far away there.”  
She smiled and ran a hand through her hair “Yeah sorry a bit lost in thought, trying to find my way back to Giles’”  
“Giles?” His brow furrowed.  
“Oh yeah, well you call him Rupert.”  
“And you call him Giles?”  
“It’s his last name, it’s a hard habit to break.”   
He laughed softly at that. “Well if you remember your way back from the bar you should be able to find your way.” He pointed behind her and she turned around to see the sign of the Queens Head.  
“Oh wow I didn’t notice that, okay yeah I’ll find my way back now, thanks.”  
“So have you decided how long you’ll stay in London?”  
“Well I haven’t decided when I’m leaving but I just decided last night that I’ll stay for a few weeks at least.”   
His face lit up, “Really? Well since you’ll be around a little longer any chance you’ll join me for dinner? Maybe tonight?”  
“Oh, like a date?” Could she date, he was handsome, charming and easy to talk to, maybe he was just what she needed to get over these feelings for Giles.  
He chuckled “Yeah something like that, nothing formal just a dinner and maybe a few drinks.”  
“Yeah that sounds fun.” She felt her stomach clench a little as she agreed but she still thought this was a good idea, clear her head a little.  
They exchanged numbers and he said he’d send her details on the when and where.  
“I’ll see you later then, California girl. I better get to work.” He said before giving her another charming smile and walking away. 

“That’s not what I’m objecting too. Aren’t we giving them too much freedom? What if they decide they don’t want to patrol at all?” The old Watcher asked, sounding affronted.  
“You’ve already given them the choice of joining this place or not, they’ve already decided to participate, they’re not going to avoid this forever. This just gives them the freedom of setting their own pace.” Buffy answered quickly, it was clear that this guy was still stuck in the old Council thinking. He wanted to control the slayers.  
“The system would of course be monitored, I’m simply suggesting that after two weeks of training they can sign up for their first patrol, if a Slayer hasn’t signed up after a month then you talk to her, see what’s holding her back and help her work through it. That way you’re not pressuring them into a dangerous situation when they don’t feel ready and hopefully they won’t be signing up simply because everyone else is, because the message you give them is that it’s okay not to be ready after just two weeks.”  
The man crossed his arms and looked rather angry but he didn’t have a reply to that.  
“I think it’s a great idea” A female Watcher in her early forties added “but what happens after that, after they’ve signed up for their first patrol. Do they just go into the routine we have now?”  
Buffy glanced at Giles who gave a tiny nod as a gesture for her to continue.  
“No I’d say that they should be debriefed after their first patrol. You said you had some psychologist?” she turned to Giles.  
“Yes a few.”  
“Then I would like the girls to meet up with them preferably the day after or that same evening. Check on how they feel after it. Then a decision can be made whether they should go out again straight away or have some more training first. Maybe at least 3 patrols with debriefings before it becomes routine.”  
“That sounds like a very good plan to me, not resource heavy but gives the Slayers adjustment and support.” another Watcher said leaning back in his chair and giving Buffy an approving look.  
“Then if there aren’t any objections I’d like you” Giles pointed to two of the Watchers “to set up a schedule that uses this protocol.” He waited briefly for any objections and then leaned back in his chair.  
“Buffy has offered to spend the next few weeks here giving the girls some private lessons. After her training sessions with the girls we found a few areas that she could work on with them. So if you want her input on the schedule she’ll be around.”  
“So you’ll be working with Sean?”  
“Not exactly,” Giles answered “we’ll offer these sessions as extra lessons for the girls on top of their training with Sean.”  
“But if she’s only here temporarily and these are things that Sean isn’t teaching them isn’t it best that they work together so Sean can continue her work after she leaves?”  
Giles started to reply but Buffy laid her hand on his arm to stop him.  
“I’ll work with Sean too, if he wants to and if we think it’s necessary. If I can assist him with his normal sessions I’m more than happy to help.”   
“So unless anyone has any new issues I think we’re done here.” Giles said giving the group a minute, when no one said anything he stood up and everyone followed suit.

When everyone was gone Giles sat at his desk and Buffy sat in one of the chairs opposite.   
“Thanks for agreeing so easily to my suggestions.”  
“Thank you for your suggestions, you were great in that meeting Buffy. Your plans were well thought out and you managed old Albert easily.”  
“There’s a whiff of Travers about him, but he seems to have a decent grasp of what we’re trying to do here.”   
A small smile played on Giles’ lips that Buffy didn’t understand but he quickly hid it “Yes he worked at the old Council his whole life, had been retired for a few years when we started this place. He has a tendency to revert to the old way of thinking.”  
“So how do you want to go about this private tutoring thing?”   
“Don’t you want a couple of days before you start? Explore London a bit more?”   
“I’d much rather do that with you and the guys, so I can start whenever you want me to. Then we can maybe do some exploring after work or on the weekends, you promised to bring me to some of your old places remember.”  
Giles smiled at her “That I did. If you’re sure then we should talk to Sean and the Slayers, figure out the best way of doing this.” he looked up past Buffy and waved someone into the office.  
Buffy turned around to see Sarah walk into the office.  
“I just heard we have a new employee” Sarah gave Buffy a slightly stiff smile.  
“Well I wouldn’t say that, just some temporary work with the Slayers.”  
Sarah seemed relieved at that “Oh really?”  
“Yeah just the next few weeks, we haven’t decided on how long really.” Buffy was sure that Sarah had stiffened slightly again, she didn’t seem happy about Buffy staying for that long.  
“I’m sure that will be great for the slayers. So do the three of you have plans for tonight or can I steal Rupert for the evening?” she asked as she sat down in the chair next to Buffy.  
Buffy quickly turned to Giles not wanting Sarah to see her reaction to that question.  
“Well actually” Giles looked a little awkward but was saved from answering by Willow coming into the office.  
“You’re going to work here?” Willow asked excitedly.   
Giles laughed “The rate at which gossip travels in this office is astounding.”  
“Not permanently, but for the next few weeks yeah” Buffy said smiling and laughed when Willow threw herself on her and hugged her tightly.  
“We have to celebrate, you know, go out for drinks or something.” Willow said excitedly.  
“Oh well sure let’s celebrate but I can’t tonight.” Buffy twirled a ring on her finger feeling her cheeks get a bit warmer. “I have a date tonight.”  
“A date?” Willow asked incredulously.  
“How do you have a date, how did we talk for hours last night and now you have a date and a job I know nothing about?” Willow sounded confused and maybe a little hurt.  
“It all happened after I left your place Will. I talked to Giles when I got back and that’s when we decided that I’d come to work here and then this morning when I was walking around I ran into Josh and he asked me out and we decided to go for dinner tonight. I meant to tell you but well there wasn’t time.”  
“Josh? The bartender from last week?” Willow crossed her arms and sat on the conference table.  
“Yeah.”   
“Well he was very charming, I’m sure you’ll have a great time. Maybe Xander will be back before the weekend and we can all celebrate together.” Sarah said cheerily.  
“That sounds great.” Buffy said trying to smile, although the atmosphere felt awkward.  
“Buffy why don’t you meet me downstairs in the training room in about 40 minutes, we can catch Sean between lessons.” Giles said dryly as he rearranged some papers on his desk.  
“Okay, do you have time for coffee Will?”

“I don’t get it Buffy, last night you were” Willow changed her tone to a very low whisper “falling in love with Giles and now what? You’re going on a date?.”  
They sat down at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. Very few people were around so Buffy decided they could discuss this here.  
“I know and then I got home and me and Giles had a really nice conversation and a good hug and I went to bed and dreamt another one of those dreams.”  
“Really? Like one of those dreams?” Willow asked, giggling a little.  
“Yeah, very intense, a lot of details, waking up sweaty and breathing heavily dreams.” Buffy knew that her whole face was red.  
“Okay and how does any of that cause you to accept an invite to dinner with the hunky bartender?”  
“Hunky?” Buffy giggled.   
“I don’t know it sounded right in my head.” Willow laughed.  
“Well this morning when I woke up I thought Giles had left and I went to go to the bathroom and ran into Sarah.”  
“Oh” Willow seemed to deflate.  
“Yeah, that whole time while me and Giles were bonding and hugging and I was dreaming Sarah was in the house.”  
“Oh” Willow repeated.  
“Yeah it felt a little like a sucker punch. I spent the morning making up my mind that I was going to get over these feelings, Giles is happy with Sarah and all I want is for him to be happy and I just need to get over this. That is literally what I was thinking when I ran into Josh so when he asked I just decided to give it a shot. Maybe I can move on and things can go back to normal.”  
“Oh Buffy, I’m so sorry you're going through this.” Willow reached out and squeezed Buffy’s hand.  
“Thanks Will and thanks for listening to me babble about this. Can we talk about anything else though, my brain has just been a whirlwind of Giles this whole day. Have you thought more about Antoine?”  
Willow smiled a little shyly and looked down into her coffee.  
“Yeah, I’ve been running into him a lot this week and I’ve tried to flirt a little bit. I’ve never been very good at that though.”  
“Oh I wouldn’t worry about that, just flash him that great smile and be yourself. Maybe don’t talk to him right after you have coffee.” She teasingly reached out and pulled Willow's cup away from her. “Do you think he got that you were flirting? Did he flirt back?”  
“I’m not sure”   
“Was there touching, excessive laughing and smiling or an unusual amount of bragging?”  
“Bragging?”  
“Yeah I’ve had a lot of guys try to flirt with me by obnoxiously telling me all the things they’re good at.” Both girls giggled at that.  
“No, no bragging but he did touch my arm when we were talking today.”  
Buffy squealed, it felt so good to see Willow be excited about someone and she looked genuinely happy.  
“That is a sure sign of flirting.”  
They both had to go so they got up and hugged.  
“I’m so happy to see you happier Will.”  
“I’m so happy that you’re staying a little longer, but I’m so sorry that you’re dealing with all of this Buffy. You have to tell me immediately how the date went, maybe Josh can get your mind off Giles.”  
They hugged again and then Buffy went to find Sean and Giles.


	18. Chapter 18

Buffy spent a while figuring out what to wear, Josh said the place was casual so she started with jeans and then finished her hair and makeup before finally settling on a red shirt with a square neckline. When she came down the stairs she saw Giles in the living room and went in to say goodbye.  
“I’m just leaving, are you seeing Sarah tonight?”   
“Yes she should be here soon, you look nice,” he gave her a brief smile before looking back at his book.  
“Thanks, you two have fun, I won’t be late.”  
“Thank you, enjoy your evening,” he said without looking up.  
“Everything alright Buffy?” he asked when she hesitated in the doorway.

“I don’t know, should I let you know when I’m coming back or something?”  
His eyes narrowed “What do you mean?”  
“I don’t know, I just don’t want to interrupt your evening if I come back too early.”  
“No you just enjoy yourself and don’t worry about interrupting anything. Like I’ve said you should act like you own the place.”  
“Okay, see you later then,” she lingered one more moment in the doorway, all she wanted to do was to curl up next to him on the couch and spend her night right there in his arms. Maybe he would read to her, she could spend a night listening to his voice.  
She shook herself and walked away from the living room “Great thoughts to start a date Buffy.” she whispered to herself as she closed the door behind her.

Josh had chosen an Italian restaurant and was standing outside waiting when Buffy got there.  
“I’m sorry am I late? I tend to be.”  
Josh laughed “No you’re not, you look great by the way.”  
“Thanks, you too,” she looked him over, he was wearing dark jeans and a dark grey wool coat that showed off his broad shoulders, she thought he really did look great.  
The restaurant was softly lit, crowded with nick nacks but what Buffy noticed most was the amazing smell. It was fairly busy and most of the customers were couples with a few families in between. They were shown to a small booth by the far wall.  
“Do you want wine?”  
“Yes, and I’ll leave it up to the expert to choose.”   
Josh chuckled and reached for the wine menu.  
They were a little quiet as they read their menus and ordered. Buffy hoped this wouldn’t be an awkward night.  
“So how come you’ve decided to stay here for a little longer?”   
“Well mostly I need money if I want to continue traveling and Giles, or you know Rupert, could get me some work.”  
“Ah okay, so what will you be doing?”  
This was the reason she usually didn’t date, you had to lie so much.  
“Do you know where he works?”  
“Doesn’t he work at a school?”  
“Yes, he’s in charge of a private school for girls and I’ll be teaching a self defense class there.” Buffy told herself that was close enough to the truth.  
“Self defense? That’s cool, have you taught before?”  
“Yeah taught some classes when I still lived in California, and a few in New York when I lived there for a short time.”  
From there the conversation flowed, They talked about traveling, music and movies and Josh had an endless supply of funny stories from the bar.

After dinner they walked to a bar nearby and Josh went to get them drinks, when he returned he had a tray full of small glasses.  
“I’m determined to find other beers that you’ll like,” he said laughing when he saw the look on her face. He told her a couple of things about each glass and then they just talked as they tasted their way through the tray.  
She watched him as he started telling her another story from the bar, he was funny, smart, very good looking, he seemed to be interested in what she had to say and he was very respectful. This should be a great date but she couldn’t stop thinking about Giles. Images of him and Sarah kept popping into her head and it made it very hard to concentrate.

“You okay?” Josh asked and she blushed.  
“God sorry, I just didn’t sleep well, I think I’m getting a little tired.”  
“Then we better get you home.” He didn’t seem to be bothered at all and Buffy felt a new pang of guilt.  
They walked together until they got to the corner of Giles’ street.  
“This is me.” She pointed down the street, a part of her wanted to run straight back to the house.  
“I had a great time tonight, would you like to go out again sometimes?”  
She looked down at her hands trying to figure out how to turn him down.  
“Look Josh.”  
“Ouch” he said before laughing.  
“I’m sorry I’m just not in the right place to be dating, I shouldn’t have said yes to begin with. I’m very sorry.”  
“Hey it’s no big deal, I still had fun tonight and you know where to find me if you change your mind okay?”  
She just smiled and he leaned in and kissed her cheek. “Hope you work out whatever it is that’s bothering you.”  
She started laughing but it quickly turned into a sigh. “Yeah me too.”

Josh walked away and Buffy sat down on a bench close by.  
She knew she had to tell Giles, these feelings were real and they weren’t going away, maybe they eventually would but she’d have to stay away from Giles for that to happen and that wasn’t what she wanted. She just had to tell him how she was feeling and they would be able to work it out. They had to be able to work it out.  
She took a deep breath, stood up and walked determinedly towards the house. She had to tell him before she lost her nerve.


	19. Chapter 19

The house was quiet but the light was on in the kitchen. She started walking down the hall and saw Giles sitting on the couch in the living room. He was staring into the fire holding an empty tumbler in his hands.  
“Hey” she said softly “are you okay?”  
“Yes I’m fine.” he glanced at his watch “You’re back early. Bad date?”  
“No it was fine.” she kicked off her shoes, put her coat over the back off a chair and sat down on the other end of the couch, facing him. “But I don’t think we’ll do it again.”  
“I’m sorry.” he said quietly.  
“It’s fine, my choice. Giles what’s wrong?” he still hadn’t looked at her, just stared at the fire spinning the glass in his hands.  
“It’s nothing, I’m just thinking.”  
They sat in silence for a few minutes but Giles never looked up.  
“Do you want some tea? Or a refill?”  
“I’d just like to be alone right now Buffy.”  
“Oh I’m sorry,” she couldn’t hide the hurt in her tone. She’d walked in here with such purpose and faith in the fact that they could work everything out. But here he was pushing her away like the last few days hadn’t happened. She left the room and went into the kitchen, she started filling the kettle out of what felt like habit. She didn’t want to go to bed this early but she also didn’t want to be around Giles right now.

“Sarah and I broke up” Buffy jumped as Giles walked into the kitchen.  
Her heart was pounding and it didn’t slow down, it would be easier to talk to him if he didn’t have a girlfriend anymore. But no she couldn’t talk to him about her feelings while he was this sad about a break up.  
“I’m sorry, can I ask what happened?” she had her ideas but didn’t want to assume.  
“I just can’t give her what she needs, so she ended it.”  
“Are you going to be okay?”   
Giles’ face softened, “I’ve been through my share of break ups, I’ll be fine.” he turned around and leant against the island in the center of the kitchen, his back to her as she continued making tea.  
“So your date wasn’t what you expected?” he asked as she handed him a mug and hopped up onto the counter next to him.   
“It was fine, I’m just…” her head was blank, how could she explain to him why she didn’t want to see Josh again. “I don’t know.”  
They drank their tea in silence, their shoulders sometimes bumping into each other as they raised their mugs to their lips.

“Thanks for this, it was probably a better idea than the scotch.” Giles said when they’d both finished and he took their mugs to the sink and then went back into the living room without saying a word.  
Buffy decided to follow him, he seemed to have changed his mind about wanting to be alone.  
She sat back on the couch giving him some physical distance and just watched him as he watched the fire.   
“I’ll be fine Buffy you don’t have to do this.”  
“I know you’ll be fine, but you seem to be hurt and I just want to be here if you need me.”  
Giles took a deep breath.   
“I’m not hurt, actually, I think I knew it was coming. I’m just going over some of the things that were said tonight.”  
“Like what?”  
Giles sighed and stood up.  
“It’s nothing. I’m going to bed, good night.”   
He walked out of the room and up the stairs without looking back. 

“What were you thinking” she asked herself in a low whisper.   
Once again she’d focused too much on her own feelings, planning on marching in here and telling him everything about how she felt, ignoring the fact that he was in a relationship.  
Or he had been, now he just seemed very hurt by Sarah leaving him.  
Buffy ran both hands through her hair and sighed before going off to bed.

Giles acted almost like normal when Buffy came into the kitchen the next day.  
He’d made coffee while she was getting ready and offered her some toast. They hadn’t really spent early mornings together since she got to London so she wasn’t sure what normal was. He read the paper as they ate and answered her questions with soft but short answers. Maybe he was just not a morning person, or maybe he was still upset and didn’t want to talk.  
The car ride was fairly quiet and as they rode the elevator up to the top floor in silence she became sure this was not about him being cranky in the mornings, he hadn’t been this quiet with her at any point in the past week.  
He got off the elevator before her and walked over to his office with her following.   
She noticed there was a group of people standing outside his office, including Sarah.  
“Did you have a meeting?” she asked quietly.  
“No,” was all the reply he gave.  
“Ahh Mr.Giles, we have a situation in Germany,” Albert, the old Watcher that had been in the meetings with Buffy, called when he noticed them walking over.  
Giles gestured for everyone to go into his office but stopped in the doorway himself and turned to Buffy.  
“Mel has everything you need so that you can start your day. I’ll see you later,” he gave her a brief smile before going into his office and closing the door.

“You okay over there?” Mel’s voice made Buffy realise that she was staring at Giles’ through the glass wall of his office.  
“Yeah, sorry just a strange morning.”   
“Well I have some papers for you to sign and then I’m told that Sean is waiting for you down in the training room.”   
Buffy silently followed Mel to her desk and signed the papers.  
“Can you tell him,” Buffy gestured towards the office “that if he needs my help with any of that he can just call me?”   
“Sure.” Mel smiled at her “I’ll see you around.”

Buffy walked slowly through the office back to the elevators.  
It felt like they’d taken one step forward in their relationship and about ten steps back. Hopefully it would just take Giles a short while to get over the break up and then they could go back to normal, or at least as close to normal as was possible for the two of them.   
“There you are!” Sean said with a smile when Buffy walked into the training room. He was wearing grey slacks and a navy blue turtleneck and was setting up some sort of obstacle course through half of the room.   
“Yeah sorry I had to sign some paperwork.” She took off her coat and dropped it and her bag of clothes next to the door. “Need some help?”  
“Please, I intentionally left the heavy stuff til last in the hope that someone with Slayer strength would offer their services.”

It didn’t take long for them to finish the obstacle course and Sean pointed Buffy to a small room in the corner of the training area she hadn’t really noticed before.  
“It was intended as storage for some of the weapons we want to keep off limits but at this point it’s pretty much my office. I had a real office but I never used it, I just use this to store my stuff and you can do the same.”  
She put her stuff in there and Sean left so she could change into her work out clothes.  
When she came back out he wasn’t there so she did a quick warmup before testing out the obstacle course. 

“Too easy?” Sean asked when she finished. He had gone somewhere else to change and was now wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants.  
“No it’s good, I think.”  
“Are you ready to train a group today if we can manage to organise it or would you prefer to leave that until tomorrow?”  
“I think I’m ready, can you give me a group of girls who won’t give me a hard time if I look like I don’t know what I’m doing?”   
Sean laughed at that “I’ll try to pick the nicest girls, but I don’t think you need to worry.”

He looked at her for a moment and rubbed the back of his neck.  
“Can I ask you something?”   
“Okay.”  
“Why is this a temporary thing? It would be a lot easier to organise if we knew that you’d be doing it for a while.”  
“Well I’m not sure how long I’m staying in London.”  
“Oh” he looked confused by that answer. “Uhm. No never mind.”  
“What?”  
“No it’s nothing I obviously got something wrong. But it’s great, we will just try to divide your time between the girls evenly so they all get to learn from you before you leave.”  
“What is it?”  
Sean was quiet for a moment.  
“I thought you and Mr.Giles…” Sean trailed off.  
“Oh, yeah I heard there were some rumours going around the Council. We’re not though.”  
“But you two seem so…” Sean ran a hand over his hair “Well okay at least I understand why you aren’t committed to this in the long term.”   
He tilted his head and smiled charmingly “So you’re single then?”  
Buffy laughed “Technically yes, but.”  
“Hey I was kidding, mostly. I think we work together a bit too closely for us to date. But if you stay in London but change professions let me know.” He winked at her just as a group of 10 Slayers entered the room.

Willow came into the training room around noon and the two of them went to check on Giles.  
“They’re having lunch in there, they haven’t left the office all morning.” Mel told them when they got there.  
“Have you offered him my help?”   
“Yeah he just thanked me, I think they’ve got it covered.”  
Buffy stood for a moment hoping that Giles would look in her direction, but he just stared at the papers in front of him.  
“I guess it’s just us then.” Willow said and Buffy caught the narrowing of her eyes as she looked between Buffy and Giles on the other side of the glass.

“What’s going on Buff?” Willow said in an almost whisper as they sat down in the cafeteria.  
“I went on the date last night and it was nice, but it felt all wrong. So I decided to tell Giles.”  
Willow's eyes were huge “What? You told him?” she still spoke in a whisper but it was so loud anyone near them could hear.  
Buffy gave her a harsh look before answering.  
“No I meant to. But then when I got home he was all broody and told me Sarah broke up with him and he’s barely spoken to me since.”  
“Oh.”   
“Yeah, I think he blames me. He told me she was threatened by me. I don’t know what happened, but it feels like he thinks it’s my fault.”  
“No Buffy he wouldn’t think that.” Willow reached over to touch Buffy’s arm.  
“It could be true though. She wasn’t happy about me staying with him or me working here. Maybe it was just too much.”  
Willow didn’t say anything to that, just gave Buffy a sad smile.  
“Maybe if it’s that, they can still work it out.”  
“But that’s not what you want is it?”  
“I just want him to be happy and preferably like me. Last night and this morning felt like…” Buffy pushed her food around on her plate. “I just want us to be good, I don’t want to go back to having a strained relationship with Giles.”  
“Give it time Buffy, they just broke up and you know Giles is usually not good with the expressing feelings bit. He might just need some time to process.”

Buffy stood outside Giles’ office at the end of the day. Mel wasn’t there but the office was full of people. She waited for a moment hoping Mel would come back or that Giles would notice her but when neither happened she decided to knock on the door.   
Giles looked up and smiled briefly when he saw her. He excused himself and came outside to meet her.  
“Buffy what are you doing here?”   
“Uhm well we just finished up the final lessons of the day.”  
Giles looked at his watch and ran a hand through his hair. “I didn’t know it was so late. Do you think you can get yourself home without me, I’d offer you my car but.”  
Buffy chuckled “Yeah no to driving on the wrong side of the road. I don’t need a ride Giles I just wanted to see if you needed any help.”  
“No, I think we have it under control.” his face softened a little “But thank you.”  
“Okay Sean asked for help with tonight's patrol since so many of the Watchers are here so I’ll be back late I guess.”  
Giles straightened up at that “Ah I see. I’m not sure when I’ll be back either…” He trailed off glancing at the people in his office. Buffy followed his eyes and saw Sarah quickly looking away from them.  
“Okay then I guess I’ll just see you later or something.” Buffy turned to leave, anger and sadness battling for dominance within her.   
“Buffy” he said her name so softly that for a moment she forgot that they hadn’t had a normal conversation the whole day. She turned around to look him in the eye.   
“Be careful please.” There was genuine worry in his eyes.  
“Always.” she gave him a quick smile and started to turn away again but he grabbed her arm before she could move.  
Giles didn’t say anything though, just looked her in the eyes and smiled a little sadly before going back to his office.


	20. Chapter 20

Giles’ car was parked outside his house so Buffy knew he’d made it home before her.  
She walked up the steps to the door but stopped with her hand on the doorknob. Instead of letting herself into the house she sat down on the top step and buried her face in her hands.   
Two days ago they’d been in such a good place, she always knew that one conversation wasn’t enough to sort out their old issues but she thought they were both on the same page, that they would talk more and figure their stuff out.  
She didn’t want to go in there just for him to spend the rest of the night ignoring her. 

She’d spent the last four hours on patrol with the Slayers. Walking around and watching them fight, they hadn’t really needed her help and at this point she was frustrated and freezing so she made up her mind to go inside, take a shower and just go to bed. She didn’t have to give Giles the chance to ignore her. 

“How was it?” Giles asked almost as soon as she closed the door behind her. He was standing at the end of the hallway in jeans and a sweater, his hair looked wet like he’d just gotten out of the shower.  
“Boring mostly and cold,” she said simply and started walking up the stairs “I’m going to take a shower,” she added before he could say anything else.

She got out of the bathroom with her towel dried hair hanging down over her shoulders, wearing her pyjamas and one of her new sweaters. It was the first night she hadn’t put his sweater on before going to bed.  
“I made some tea if you want some.”   
Giles was standing at the bottom of the stairs like he’d been waiting for her to come out.  
“No thanks.”  
“Buffy can we talk?”   
She sighed with her hand on the doorknob to her bedroom.  
“Yeah okay.”  
She walked down the stairs and he handed her a mug of tea before leading the way into the living room.

“Were there any injuries?” He spoke to her like she’d heard him speak to some of the Watchers. In a detached way like he was just her boss.  
“That’s what you wanted to talk about? Patrol?”  
“I just wanted to make sure everyone was alright.”   
“Everyone’s fine. Did you sort out whatever was going on in Germany?” She took a large sip of her tea hoping to get out of this conversation as quickly as possible.  
“In a way, there will be more to do tomorrow.” he just looked down into his own mug as he spoke.

Buffy took a deep breath, they should just get this over with, then she could go stay with Willow tomorrow and skip a repeat of this awkwardness and tension.  
“Why are you acting like this Giles? Did I do something? Because I thought you said that whatever Sarah felt about me wasn’t my fault but here we are. She dumps you and you stop talking to me. What did I do?” She hadn’t meant to get so emotional right away but when she started asking him questions she couldn’t stop and all the things she’d worried about all day came spilling out.   
Giles put his mug on the side table and turned to her, stroking his palm down his face.  
“I don’t blame you Buffy and I’m sorry that I made you feel that way.” His voice was still void of emotion but he couldn’t make eye contact and he hunched his shoulders as if he was trying to physically close off from her.   
“If you don’t blame me for the break up then why have you barely looked at me since last night.”   
“I don’t blame you Buffy.” he repeated, he made a small movement like he’d meant to reach out to her but thought better of it.  
“But it’s still my fault? Or did I do something else?” When he didn’t reply Buffy’s mood shifted from worried to angry. “I’m going to stay with Willow. I’m sorry Giles for whatever it is you're going through but I…” her voice broke and she took a deep breath to try to get control of her emotions again.  
Something seemed to have finally reached Giles because he looked up at her.  
“Buffy this break up was not your fault. I need you to know that.”  
“If I hadn’t been in that cafe in Paris would you still be with her?”  
Giles sighed but didn’t look away “Yes I believe so. But that just makes you a catalyst not the cause.”  
“I’m sorry Giles, I wish”  
This time he did reach out, moving to sit closer to the center of the couch and put his hand around her calf. “Buffy running into you in Paris was the best thing that happened to me all year. You coming here and us starting to mend this relationship is worth this loss. The fact that Sarah couldn’t handle your presence in my life well” he sighed “that means that we couldn’t last because I need you in my life.”  
“Wow” she couldn’t think of what to say to that, Giles smirked at her and they both burst out laughing.

“Okay so you’ve proven once again that you’re better with words.” she said when she’d recovered enough to speak. “But thanks for saying all that Giles. You know I need you too right? Like Willow said the other day, the world feels right when you and I are in a good place.”  
Giles chuckled “She said that?”  
“Yeah and I think she’s right, everything feels off when we’re off.”  
Giles nodded, he had a small smile on his face but there was clear happiness in his eyes.  
“Am I being really nosey if I ask what Sarah said about us? I just don’t get it, I’ve been her for a few days, we’ve spent most of our time with Willow and Xander and you two still managed some alone time.”  
Giles sighed and moved back to the other end of the couch.  
“It was in most ways an amicable break up. Her bottom line was simply that she wants someone who can put her first. It isn’t an unfair request of your partner but it isn’t something that I can offer.” 

“The Giles who was sitting there when I came home didn’t seem like he’d been through an amicable break up,” she thought she shouldn’t be pushing him like this, but she wanted to know his state of mind. If he was really broken up about this then she should probably try to help him work things out with Sarah. It would be the right thing to do but it was very far from what she wanted to do. “And none of that explains how you’ve been acting for the past 24 hours.”  
“No like I said, I’m just working through…” he ran both hands through his hair before standing up from the couch. “It doesn’t matter Buffy. Sarah was right about a lot of things and I just need. I don’t know, some time.” He walked over to the fireplace, placing both hands on the mantelpiece and looking down into the fire.  
“What changed with you two?”  
“What do you mean?”  
“Well she stayed over here the night before the break up so I assume you two were okay then but then you break up a day later, it seems so sudden.”  
“No we fought both nights, but the fact that you intend to stay for a few more weeks was one of the main reasons for her walking away.”   
“I’m sorry Giles.”  
“Don’t be.”  
Buffy went to stand next to him, raised her hand to touch his back but then thought better of it and simply stood by his side.  
“I hate to see you in pain and I really don’t like that I had something to do with it. Is there anything I can do?”  
Giles stood up straight and turned to face her. He just looked at her for a moment before raising his hand and gently cupping her cheek for a brief moment.  
“I’ll be fine, I promise.” He dropped his hand and walked past her to sit back down on the sofa.  
Buffy touched her cheek where Giles’ fingers had been, that was so out of character for him and the intimate gesture left her with butterflies in her stomach.

“What is the truth you need to think about?” She turned on the spot to look at him and saw him tilt his head in question.  
“You said earlier that she had been right about some stuff and you needed to think about that.”  
“Why are you pushing this?” He didn’t sound angry but she could see him start to close off again.  
“Because something feels off about this whole situation. Did she accuse you of something?”   
Giles flinched a little at that but then he just looked down.  
“If this is all about her thinking we’re having some sort of affair”  
“It’s not” he interrupted her “this wasn’t sudden and it wasn’t about any one thing. For two nights she’s listed all the little things that made her feel like you were more important to me than she could ever be.” he stood up and slowly walked closer to her. “Everything from how the people in the office talked about us, to how we interact during training to me coming down here to spend time with you when she was sleeping upstairs.” he blushed slightly. It seemed like he hadn’t meant to say all that but he kept going. “And she’s right, she can’t compete with you. I tried to tell her that she didn’t have to, that how I feel about you is different but…” he turned around and ran a hand through his hair and took off his sweater so he was just in his jeans and a t-shirt.

Buffy ran his words over in her mind a few times, trying to figure out what he was leaving unsaid. She could only imagine two ways he would end that sentence and one of those could explain why he’d been avoiding her.  
“Is it?” she asked, taking a tentative step towards him as her heart rate quickened.  
He turned to face her and opened his mouth to speak but hesitated.  
“I...Isn’t it?” he stammered a bit.  
“Well of course it is, I’m not comparing what we have with what you had with Sarah. We’ve known each other for years and have gone”  
“Buffy?” he interrupted her as she started rambling.  
“But it doesn’t have to be so different.” her whole body felt numb and her breathing was shallow.  
“Buffy I need you to…” he considered his words “What are you saying?”  
She took another step towards him placing her hand gently on his cheek. Giles closed his eyes and leaned into the touch. She lifted herself slowly up onto her tip toes and gently brushed her lips against his. His eyes shot open but he didn’t move.  
She’d felt numb before but now every nerve ending in her body was on fire, she was terrified that she had misunderstood him?  
She dropped her hand from his cheek and started taking a step backwards but his hand grabbed her waist keeping her in place and his other hand went to her cheek mirroring her earlier move. He stared into her eyes, his looking unusually amber in the soft light of the fire. He slowly bent down and kissed her. It was not the same brush of lips as before but it was still tentative and soft.

Her head spun and the butterflies in her stomach seemed to spread through her whole body.  
As he moved away again they just stared at each other and Buffy couldn’t stop herself from giggling.  
Giles seemed unsure of what she was feeling so she quickly tried to explain.  
“Sorry the last two days have just been the biggest emotional roller coaster. I decide to put all my feelings for you aside and accepted a date and realised on that date that I couldn’t do that so I spent a while working up the nerve to come in here and tell you but then that wasn’t what happened and then I think you hate me but now you’ve kissed me and I just” she sighed but then giggled again at his surprised expression.  
“You came in here to tell me what exactly?”  
“That I love you and not in the you’re my Watcher and friend way but in a I can’t stop thinking of you way and I needed your help to work through it so I don’t accidentally push you away.”  
Now Giles laughed and Buffy couldn’t help but feel a little hurt.  
“I know it’s surprising and I’m not the best with words but I didn’t think you’d actually laugh at me at least not after you kissed me.”  
“Oh Buffy” he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her to him, threading his other hand through her hair and holding her head to his chest. “I’m not laughing at you,” he kissed the top of her head before releasing his grip on her and then moved enough to be able to look her in the eye again but kept one hand on her waist and the other on her cheek.  
“I wasn’t lying about not being hurt by the break up. I was never in love with Sarah, I was waiting for it to happen but it never did. She knew that and last night she accused me of being in love with you and as soon as she said it I knew it was true. I should have known from the moment I saw you in Paris but I didn’t realise until she said it. But I was certain that you could never reciprocate those feelings. I wasn’t as smart as you,” he brushed her cheek with his thumb “I didn’t realise that if I denied those feelings I’d push you away. I’m so sorry for how I’ve treated you today I should have been more honest with you.”   
Buffy felt a few tears fall from her eyes and Giles quickly wiped them away with his thumbs before pulling her back into his chest. Her arms went around his shoulder automatically and she held him as tight as she dared.  
He didn’t let her go, just moved his head back to look at her and she quickly grabbed the opportunity and kissed him. 

The first two kisses had been wonderful, hesitant but filled with promise. This one sparked something within her and it escalated quickly. When their tongues touched she felt the whole world shrink down to the two of them in that living room. Now that she was finally touching him she couldn’t get enough. Buffy lightly scratched his scalp with her nails and shivered when she felt him groan into her mouth. Giles lifted her up and took a few steps to press her against the wall next to the door. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist pressing him to her.   
Giles broke the kiss and rested his forehead to hers.  
“I think we should talk about this.” he panted.  
“Talk later” she said and started kissing his neck, grazing her teeth against his pulse point making Giles moan.  
Buffy smiled against his neck and moved her hand up into his hair using her grip to move his head back enough for her to kiss him again. She moved her hips to grind herself against the growing bulge in his jeans.  
She broke the kiss when she became desperate for air and Giles used the opportunity to unwrap her legs from his waist and put her down.  
He placed both hands flat against the wall on either side of her head and stared into her eyes, breathing hard.  
“We shouldn’t rush this.”   
“We both just said that we loved each other, I don’t think we’re in danger of moving too fast Giles.” She slid her hands under his t-shirt and he gasped as she ran her fingernails up to his chest. “Don’t stop kissing me, please.”  
Giles groaned and quickly wrapped an arm around her waist pulling her to him and kissing her fiercely, trapping her hands between them.  
They stumbled up the stairs together, neither willing to completely break their contact. Giles guided them up to his room, opening the door and backing into it still kissing her and holding her to him.  
He reached over to turn a lamp and Buffy turned her head a little to look around. She gasped audibly as the room came into view.  
“What?” he stopped kissing her neck and took a step away from her.  
The room was exactly like her dream. Except there wasn’t a window on the far wall. She watched the four poster bed for a moment and then turned and ran her hand over the dresser, the dream had been so vivid that it almost felt like she had a real memory of him lifting her up onto it.   
“Buffy are you alright?” she turned to look at him and couldn’t help but smile, he looked ruffled with his hair standing in different directions, his lips swollen from kissing her and he was still breathing a bit rapidly.  
“Yeah, it's just” she shook her head “I’ve never been in here but I had a dream and well everything looked exactly the same in the dream, it’s strange.”  
“A dream about my bedroom you say,” he had a smug smile on his face as he walked closer to her “interesting.” 

Giles grinned at her before sliding both hands into her hair and kissing her.  
“Yeah it went a little something like that” she said laughing when they broke away.  
“I’d like to hear more about this dream.” he ran his thumbs over the curves of her ears and kissed her again.  
Buffy placed her hands on his chest and moaned softly when she felt him push his tongue into her mouth. His hands roamed her body, stroking from her hips up over her waist, over her back and down to grab her ass. Giles broke the kiss and swiftly lifted her up onto the dresser so they were at eye level.  
Buffy laughed a little and he looked at her questioningly.  
“You did that in my dream too.” She wrapped her legs around his waist, holding him close.  
“Really? What else happened in this dream of yours?” he softly ran his hands up and down her sides, sometimes running his thumbs under the curve of her breasts.  
“Well I came in here and you kissed me and lifted me up onto the dresser.” She ran her hands up under his shirt, lightly tickling his ribs with her nails before stroking through the hair on his chest “And you were stroking my breasts just as you’re doing now,” she sighed and leaned her head back as he lightly tugged on her nipples through her shirt.

“I took off your shirt.” she smiled at him as she pushed his shirt up and he quickly pulled it over his head before resuming his previous position and sliding his hands up and down her body. She noticed that he wasn’t looking at her face, his eyes were traveling over her body and he licked his lips.  
“And then,” she bent forward and licked his nipple, smiling when she heard him draw in a deep breath “we were naked on the bed.”  
Giles chuckled and looked her in the eye “I like this dream.” But then he sighed and moved his hands to her thighs like he was about to move away from her.  
“Giles?” she placed both hands on the side of his neck bending down a little to catch his eyes.  
“I think we need to slow down Buffy. My relationship ended yesterday and you mean too much to me for me to rush this.” he placed one hand on the small of her back and the other on her cheek, looking her in the eye and making it clear that he was not pushing her away.   
She took a deep breath trying to calm herself “What are you asking me to do? Do you want me to go and sleep in my room or?”   
Giles used the hand on her back to pull her closer. “No, I have no intention of letting you leave this room.” He kissed her tenderly, pulling away before she could escalate it. “But I think we should make sure we are both comfortable with how far we take things tonight. It’s been a long day for both of us and we have barely discussed this.”  
“I wish you weren’t so logical.” She moved her hands back down to his chest gently brushing his nipples. Giles’ breath hitched and he grabbed her wrists.   
“I’m certain that my resolve can be broken quite easily so please don’t tempt me.” The look in his eyes told her that he wasn’t finding it any easier to stop than she did.

“How about some cuddling then?” she unwrapped her legs from around his hips and tried for an innocent smile but he smirked at her as he took a step back, holding her hand as she hopped down from the dresser.  
She looked him in the eye before lifting her sweater over her head, pushed down her pyjama pants and kicked off her socks so she was just wearing her underpants and a tank top, before walking over to the bed and sliding under the covers.  
“Are you joining me?” she asked in a teasing tone when she noticed that Giles hadn’t moved, he’d just stared at her as she undressed. He seemed to come out of a daze when she spoke and shook his head a little.  
He placed his hand on the button of his jeans, but took a moment before popping it and pushing them down his legs. She noticed the bulge in his boxers and instinctively licked her lips.  
Giles laid down beside her pulling her close to him and she could feel her own breathing pick up again just from the feeling of his warm skin against hers.   
She turned in his arms so that they both laid on their sides facing each other.

“I really didn’t think this would be where my day ended.”  
“I’m so sorry for hurting you today. I...”  
She stopped him talking by placing two fingers to his lips.  
“It’s okay, I understand now and I know that my first instinct, when I realised how I was feeling, was to run away.”  
Giles kissed her fingers and smiled.  
“Right now I’m just so glad that we figured this out and that we’re here together.” She ran her leg up his calf, up to his hip. “I love you Giles.”  
His face softened and he ran his hand up her arm and cupped her face for a moment, stroking his thumb over her cheek before moving his hand to the back of her neck.  
“I love you so much, Buffy.” he sighed before pulling her forward and kissing her.   
Their bodies melted together as their tongues touched. He slid his arm under her neck as his other hand traveled up and down her body. Buffy dragged her nails down his back and his responding groan caused a new wave of warmth to gather between her legs.  
She tore her lips away from him as he grabbed her ass firmly pulling her even closer.  
“Giles” she moaned breathlessly. He didn’t release his grip on her but moved to kiss her neck and collarbone, running his tongue over the spots he’d kissed and gently biting her neck.  
Her breathing was shallow and rapid and she needed more. She grabbed his hand and moved it slightly so that he could feel how wet she was.  
Giles moaned and slipped one finger under her panties to stroke up from her entrance to her clit, gently massaging it in circles.  
Buffy threw her head back and moaned loudly, feeling so much relief that he was finally touching her where she wanted.  
“Please don’t stop” she whispered, afraid that he would pull back again.  
Giles moved his head away from her neck to kiss her again but also moved his hand away. She whimpered and tried to grab his hand but he just made a soothing sound as he grabbed her ankle and moved her leg away from his waist, pushing her so she lay on her back.  
He kissed her again and as he pushed his tongue into her mouth his fingers moved down her stomach and into her underwear resuming his pressure and movement on her clit.  
She cried out and bucked her hips slightly causing him to chuckle, but he neither broke the kiss nor the contact.   
“Tell me if you want me to touch you differently” he said softly as he continued to massage her clit. “I want to learn how you like to be touched.”  
“No, no just like that” she gasped as she felt the first stirrings of her orgasm.  
She was astounded how close she was already but she needed to touch him.  
She slid her hand down his body pressing her hand over his obvious erection through his boxers and he broke the kiss with a cry of his own, burying his head in the crook of her neck as he found his rhythm on her clit again.  
Buffy moved her hand into his boxers, gently wrapping her fingers around his cock and tentatively stroking him, when he nibbled the skin on her neck with his lips she grabbed him a little tighter and stroked from the base to the head.  
She heard him mutter a curse before he thrust into her grip. Hearing his gruff voice was her undoing and she cried out his name, losing her rhythm on his cock as her hips lifted off the bed when her orgasm washed over her.

Giles softly massaged her clit for a few more moments while she caught her breath. He then ran his hand from her thigh up to her waist, trailing his fingers under the hem of her shirt.  
She caught his eye and giggled, overwhelmed by the fact that she was in bed with Giles, that Giles had just given her an orgasm.  
He smiled and bent his head to give her a tender kiss, Buffy grabbed the back of his head deepening the kiss and reaching her other hand down to grasp his cock again.  
“These need to come off Giles.” she pushed at the waistband of his boxers.  
“Buffy this has gotten out of control, we should” she interrupted him with a passionate kiss.  
“We can save some things for later, but I really want to make you come Giles.” she heard his breath hitch slightly at her words and added “It’s only fair,” as she rubbed his erection through his boxers.  
He pushed his boxers down his legs but when he turned to look at her he raised an eyebrow.  
“Speaking of fair” he lifted his hand to run his fingertips over the skin of her breast that was visible at the neckline of her tank top. She felt her skin erupt in goosebumps at the touch and her nipples strained against the material of her shirt.  
“You feeling underdressed?” she asked him in a teasing tone.  
He just nodded, seeming to have lost his voice as she sat up and lifted the shirt over her head.  
A slow grin appeared on his face as he moved her to lie back down on the bed.  
“Bloody hell you are gorgeous.” he said and started to trail kisses from her belly button up between her breasts. He pulled one nipple into his mouth and circled his tongue around it before moving to the other nipple to repeat the process. Buffy moaned and arched her chest up into his mouth. She grasped his shoulder pushing him away until he laid on his back beside her.  
“It was my turn” she laughed at the confused look on his face. She kissed him softly and moved to trail kisses and small licks up his jaw and down his neck. She found a sensitive spot around his pulse point, and grounded herself against his thigh as he moaned slightly while she licked and kissed it.  
She moved back a little so she could reach back down. His cock was still fully erect and she wrapped her fingers around the base and slowly stroked upwards, running her thumb over the head catching the drop that had gathered there, she repeated the process slowly continuing to kiss his neck and jaw and down his chest to lick his nipple in a similar way as he’d licked hers.  
She tightened her grip a little and stroked him faster and heard him groan deep in his chest.  
Then his hand wrapped around hers and she felt him guide her to grip him more tightly as she reached the head of his cock. He then reached to grab the back of her neck and pulled her in for a demanding kiss.   
Then he broke the kiss and wrapped his arm around her and pulled her up far enough so he could suck her nipple into his mouth. She moaned loudly as he licked and sucked her breast and nipple as his hips started to thrust into her grasp. She felt his cock start to expand in her hand and he tore his mouth away from her and cried out as he started coming.   
Giles pulled her back into a deep kiss before reaching for his t-shirt on the floor to clean them up slightly.   
He threw the t-shirt back on the floor and gathered her up in his arms and kissed her again. 

Their passion was still there despite their release and she slipped her tongue into his mouth deepening the kiss and wrapping her leg over his hip.  
“You’re still wearing more clothes than me.” he smiled at her as he started pushing her underwear down. Buffy rolled onto her back lifting her hips slightly to help him get them off.   
Giles kissed his way up her legs but when he started kissing the skin high on her inner thigh she stroked his hair to get his attention.   
“I don’t like it” she whispered, gently tugging on him to bring him back up her body.  
Disappointment flashed over his face but he hid it quickly moving up to lie next to her and kissed her running his hand through her hair.   
“I’m sorry if you like” she started when he broke the kiss but he laid a finger to her lips to stop her.  
“You don’t have to apologise Buffy, you need to tell me if there is anything you don’t like.” He splayed his fingers over her abdomen and kissed her again slowly moving his hand down her body. She instinctively opened her legs and moaned when he spread her folds with two fingers. He massaged her clit gently before pushing a finger into her causing her to arch her back and moan his name. Giles grinned at her before adding another finger and bending down to lick her nipple.   
“Christ I want to be inside of you,” he groaned, taking her whole areola into his mouth.   
Buffy started writhing as he thrust his fingers into her, using his thumb to massage her clit. Giles moved to take her other nipple between his teeth holding it as he flicked his tongue over it.  
He curled his fingers slightly so he massaged her front wall every time his fingers entered her. It felt like she’d lost control of her body as she simultaneously tried to arch her hips into his fingers and her breasts into his mouth, wanting more of his touch.   
“Giles,” she moaned, “I want you.”  
He lifted his head enough to make eye contact. His eyes slightly glazed as he watched her.   
“I want to hear you Buffy, come for me.”   
Giles moved to her other breast licking the nipple as he added a third finger and Buffy cried out. She had no control over her volume screaming his name as she felt herself flood his fingers.   
Her whole body trembled from her orgasm and she had a hard time catching her breath. Giles wrapped his arms around her, pulling her to him, resting her head in the crook of his neck and wrapping one of his legs around her.  
She felt tiny with his large frame wrapped so tightly around her and she couldn’t deny feeling very warm and protected.  
They laid there in silence for a while, content to fall asleep in each other's arms, she slowly caught her breath and heard his heart rate slow down to normal before she fell asleep.


	21. Chapter 21

Buffy woke up to the alarm just as Giles reached over to turn it off. He wrapped his arm back around her and drew her as close to him as possible. It was really warm under the covers and she was surrounded by Giles, one of his legs was between hers and one of his arms was over her waist and the other under her neck and he was trailing kisses from the back of her neck to her shoulder and down her upper arm.  
“Good morning” he said softly when he saw her looking at him.  
“This feels surreal” she sighed as she snuggled back into him. He chuckled and his warm breath on her neck made her shiver.  
“Yes I must admit that I expected to wake up alone in my bed, this still feels like a dream.”   
Buffy reached back and pinched his thigh hard enough for him to wince. He grabbed her wrist and wrapped their arms back over her chest.  
“The alarm clock was enough to convince me I was awake.”  
She giggled and tried to turn around in his arms but he stopped her and started kissing up her neck and running the tip of his tongue over the shell of her ear.  
When she stopped trying to turn he released his hold on her and slowly trailed his fingers down her body. He used his knee to spread her legs a little bit before stroking her inner thigh with his fingertips to her knee and then back up over her hip, stomach and the curve of her breasts.  
“Your skin is like silk.” he sighed and pinched her nipple between two fingers before running his hand back down her body.   
“How do you do that?”   
“Do what?” he asked as his fingers traced patterns around her belly button.  
“Turn me on so much by just barely kissing and touching me?” she put her hand over his and pushed it lower until his fingers slid between her folds and he groaned at how wet she was.  
Giles teased her by running a finger around her clit careful not to actually touch her where she wanted. When he finally pressed down on it, moving his finger in a circular motion she moaned and reached back to grab the back of his head.  
She managed to turn enough for her to kiss him and as he pushed his tongue into her mouth he also pushed a finger inside of her.  
He broke the kiss after a while and added another finger inside of her slowly thrusting them as he continued to massage her clit.  
“You feel so amazing” he told her as he started to kiss her neck and shoulders again.  
Buffy couldn’t find her words as he brought her closer and closer to orgasm just managing to moan his name.  
Giles twisted their bodies a little and added a curl of his fingers to every thrust.  
Buffy bit her lip to stop from crying out.  
“No please let me hear you Buffy.” His voice was rough from arousal and she pushed her ass back trapping his erection between them causing him to gasp.   
“Let me hear you love” he added a third finger and it all became too much, the pressure on her clit, his fingers inside her stroking just the right spot, feeling and hearing how much he wanted her caused her orgasm to crash over her. She moaned with every thrust of his fingers before crying out his name as she tensed up against him, trembling in his arms.

Giles went back to stroking her skin all over as she slowly came down and when her breathing had evened out a little he moved over her and kissed her passionately.   
“I love you,” she whispered when he broke the kiss “and I really love waking up with you.”   
She giggled and he chuckled.  
“I love you too.” He kissed her again, the kiss was languid and in sharp contrast with his next words “but as lovely as this morning has been, we will be terribly late for work.” He started sitting up but Buffy put her hand on his chest stopping him.  
“What about you?” She moved her hand quickly down his chest and wrapped her fingers around his hard cock stroking her thumb up the underside and over the head.  
Giles threw his head back and groaned “Buffy I’ll be fine,” he moaned but he didn’t move to stop her “we have to go,” he closed his eyes as she started stroking his length.  
“Well then you just have to be quick.” she kept stroking him in the way he’d guided her the night before, adding pressure as she got closer to the head. She moved so she could whisper in his ear. “I can’t go through the whole day wondering how it would feel to have you cock in my mouth Giles.”  
Her words had the effect she wanted, he thrust into her hand as he muttered a quiet “Christ!”  
Buffy pushed him to lay on his back and quickly moved down between his legs. She looked up at him and saw that he had his head pressed into the pillow and his eyes were closed. When she didn’t move he looked down at her and as soon as she caught his eye she licked up the entire length of him with a flat tongue.  
“Oh fuck” he hissed and grabbed the sheet with his right hand as he tangled his left through her hair.  
Buffy twirled her tongue over the head of his cock before taking it into her mouth. She sucked on the head for a while as she pumped him with her hand. She then took as much of him into her mouth as she could while moving her hand down to cup his balls.  
“Yes, yes, yes” he chanted breathlessly as she moved up and down his erection, moving her tongue around the underside and sometimes around the head while still stroking and gently massaging his balls.  
She was so turned on by his reactions to her that she thought she could almost come again just from pleasing him.  
“I’m close” he muttered and tightened his grip on her hair a little.  
She moved her hand back up to his erection pumping him as she sucked harder on the head.  
“Oh fuck Buffy.” She felt him slightly pull on her head as if to move her away but she looked up at him and tried to shake her head a little before taking as much of him into her mouth as she could, feeling the head press against her throat, still using her hand to pump the rest of his length. He obviously got her message as he muttered a string of curses in more than one language before moaning her name. She felt his cock expand and throb as he exploded in her mouth.

He pulled her back up the bed and moved to kiss her, she was surprised he wanted to but he held her tightly against his body and massaged her tongue with his. His willingness to kiss her after coming in her mouth turned her on even more.  
“That was amazing. You are amazing.” he told her, stroking her hair away from her face and kissing her again holding the back of her head firmly.  
“Go you can have the first shower, I’ll make some coffee.”   
“You don’t want to shower with me?”  
“Buffy if I go into that shower with you we’ll never leave the house.” He said laughing and lightly slapped her ass before sitting up.  
“I really don’t see the problem with that.”

“Do we tell Willow?” Buffy asked as she came into the kitchen. They’d both showered, separately, and gotten dressed fairly quickly but you couldn’t tell by looking at Giles. He looked very handsome in a light grey three piece suit and watching him stand there making her coffee in the morning caused a warmth to spread throughout her whole body..   
“I don’t intend to keep this a secret, but perhaps not today?” He spoke very determinedly, like he was choosing his words carefully and he turned around to see her reaction.  
“Okay, so just keep it a secret for a few days?” She wasn’t sure about this plan, she knew it would be very hard to hide this from Willow but she could understand that he maybe didn’t want to admit that he broke up with Sarah and got together with her in the span of a day.  
“Not even that long, just until we’ve managed to discuss this between us.” he put his hand on her shoulder and tilted his head slightly, he was not making this decision for them but asking her if she agreed.   
“Yeah okay that makes sense. Knowing Willow she’ll have a 100 questions I couldn’t answer.”  
He turned back around and poured coffee into two to-go mugs.  
“Precisely, I would just like to make sure we’re on the same page before we involve other people.”  
“You’re drinking coffee?”  
“Don’t you want coffee?”  
“Well yes but you usually”  
Giles interrupted her with a quick kiss “Then we have coffee, I don’t care.”  
She pouted at him but he only laughed, bent down and lightly nibbled her bottom lip “I really don’t care Buffy, but we are running very late let’s go.”

Giles followed her out of the kitchen but before she reached the door she felt his hand on her hip and he pushed her against the wall and bent down to kiss her. She wrapped her free arm around his neck and moaned as he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth.  
“It’s a bad idea to call in sick on day two of a job, but I really really don’t want to leave this house.” she sighed as he kissed her jaw and neck.  
“Hey I’m your boss,” he chuckled before nibbling her earlobe.   
“I think you could convince me not to fire you,” he ran his hand down her back cupping her ass and pulling her into him.  
Buffy was about to reply when someone knocked on the door.  
Giles sighed resting his forehead against hers before giving her one more quick kiss and moving away. He took a deep breath obviously trying to regain his composure and she laughed enjoying the effect she had on him.  
Giles scowled at her smugness before opening the door to reveal Willow.   
“Hey I saw that the car was still here and was hoping to catch a ride.”  
“Of course we were just leaving.”  
“Is Buffy already making you late, you’d usually have left by now?” Willow asked teasingly and Buffy stuck her tongue out at her.  
“Yes well you wouldn’t expect anything less would you?” he replied in a dry tone and Buffy was very tempted to tell Willow that it was his fault they were late but the teasing glint in his eyes stopped her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In a couple of days I'll post the last two chapters!   
> Thanks to everyone who's still reading :)


	22. Chapter 22

On the way to the Council Giles filled Willow in on the crisis in Germany, asking her to join their meeting. Buffy sat quietly looking out the window, reliving the morning. She really wanted to know what would have happened if Willow hadn’t knocked on the door.   
“Buffy?” Willow's voice pulled her away from her dirty day dream and Buffy felt herself blush.  
“What?” She asked, not turning to look at her friend.  
“You okay? You were off in never-never land.”   
“Oh, yeah fine. Just a little tired or something.” She could feel Willow’s eyes on the back of her head, but she didn’t ask her anything else, just continued her conversation with Giles.

It felt like the longest day of her life. Willow and Giles had gone off to a meeting as soon as they got to the Council. She’d made a couple of attempts to see Giles but his office was always full of people. Both times he looked up when she got close to his office, somehow noticing her arrival before she could make an attempt to catch his attention. Each time he gave her an apologetic look, obviously too busy to leave the office.

As she was finishing up with her last group of the day she heard some commotion by the doors and saw Xander enter with a girl and two other Watchers.   
Buffy dismissed her group and ran over to hug Xander.   
“Your back! When did you get back?”  
He hugged her back, laughing brightly.  
“It’s nice to know that I was missed, I just got back a few hours ago.”  
“Is that the new Slayer?”   
“Yes and her new team.”  
“Team?”  
“Let me say goodbye and I’ll explain.” Xander went over to the girl and had a short conversation with the group. She watched as the new Slayer gave Xander a big hug before he came back over to Buffy.  
“Let’s find Willow and Giles.”  
“They’re stuck in a marathon meeting, I don’t think we’ll be able to get them out.”  
“Let’s try. It’s Friday and I’m back and I want to catch up with everyone.”  
Buffy followed him into the elevator, “So what did you mean by the Slayers team?”

As they rode the elevator up to the top floor Xander explained to Buffy that all new Slayers got assigned a temporary Watcher when they first came to the Council. Someone to show them around and answer questions and generally look out for them.   
“But she had two?”  
“Yeah she doesn’t speak that much English so she also gets a translator, sometimes they assume the role of the guiding Watcher sometimes they don’t. Depends on how they fit together.”  
“The Council has come a long way from ‘Here’s this stuffy English guy, do what he says’” she added thinking about meeting Wesley for the first time.  
“Hey our stuffy English guy turned out pretty great.”  
“I was thinking of the time they fired him and sent a stuffier one.”  
“Ahh yeah, Wesley and you would be deemed a bad fit in this Council. To say the least.” They both giggled slightly. 

Giles seemed to have just dismissed the meeting when they got off the elevator and when they reached his office only he and Willow remained.  
“Xander!” Willow called out when she saw them enter and ran to give him a big hug.   
“Did everything go well?” Giles asked when Willow had untangled herself from Xander.  
“Yeah our newest Slayer is downstairs meeting Sean and some of the girls.” Xander went over to Giles and put his arm around his shoulder and looked to Buffy.  
“So you finally got her?” he asked gleefully and Giles’ face went a little white. “You managed to get Buffy to join the Council,” Xander went on.  
Buffy saw Giles let out a deep breath before chuckling trying to quickly hide his reaction to Xanders first question.  
“Yes, well temporarily at least.” he ducked his head and glanced a bit shyly at Buffy.  
“I think he’s doing a pretty good job of convincing me to stay longer.” She tried to give him a loving smile, feeling a little bad about the fact that they hadn’t discussed what any of this meant last night.  
Giles looked very relieved and Xander patted him on the back.  
“Excellent, we need to celebrate!”   
“Yes!” Willow chimed in. “Let’s go for some drinks.”

Buffy and Giles had both tried to delay the celebrations until tomorrow but Willow wasn’t having it. They sat next to each other in a booth, they’d gone to a bar very close to the Council building and there were a few other Watchers around.   
Xander was telling them stories from Bangkok when Buffy felt Giles stroke her thigh with the back of his fingers. She glanced at him but he was just looking at Xander.  
She did her best trying to act casually and listen to what Xander was saying but most of her focus was on the slow movement of Giles’ fingers as he stroked her thigh.  
She noticed Antoine walk through the door and saw an opportunity. She leaned forward and to her right, to the world it looked like she was trying to get closer to Willow who sat opposite Giles but she used her movement to slide her hand between Giles’ legs and stroke her palm slowly up his thigh.  
“Hey Will, look who just walked in,” she darted her eyes over to the bar where Antoine was greeting some of their co-workers. She kept running her hand up and down the inside of Giles’ thigh as she talked “Why don’t you go get us another round?”   
Before sitting back in her seat Buffy rubbed the heel of her palm over the crotch of Giles’ pants, feeling his cock start to harden through the soft fabric. She heard how Giles’ breath quickened and she couldn’t help feeling a little proud of herself as she sat back, trying not to look smug.  
“No, I’m here with you guys,” Willow blushed slightly when she looked over at the bar.  
“I didn’t tell you to leave, just get us another round. Anyway aren’t we here to celebrate the fact that we’ll have a lot more time together since I’m staying.”  
Xander nudged Willow in the direction of the bar and Buffy saw her take a deep breath as she stood up.   
They all watched as Willow approached the bar and saw Antoine light up when he saw her. Buffy and Xander smiled at each other, sharing a moment as they watched their friend take a healthy step forward.   
“My guess is we’ll never see that round if we wait for Will,” Xander slid out of the booth “I’ll be right back.”  
“You think you’re clever don’t you?” Giles smirked at her as he put his right elbow on the table turning slightly in his seat to look at her and slid his left hand between her legs. He slowly trailed his fingers from her knee and up and down her inner thigh a few times. On each turn he trailed a little higher finally cupping between her thighs and managing to put pressure on her clit through her jeans.  
She couldn’t help the small moan that escaped her.  
“Christ, the sounds you make” he said in a gravelly voice. He pulled his hand away, stroking down her inner thigh before sitting straighter in his seat glancing up at Xander who was still at the bar deep in conversation with someone Buffy didn’t know.

“So I’m doing a good job of persuading you to stay am I?” Giles’ voice sounded teasing but he didn’t make eye contact.   
Buffy twined their fingers under the table and squeezed his hand.  
“I know we didn’t talk as much last night as you maybe wanted but I think we said enough for you to know that I want to stay here.”  
Giles was silent, he stared at the table and took a deep breath.  
“Uhm, that is if you want me to stay. If I misunderstood,”  
Giles squeezed her hand back and turned further in his seat, when he finally looked up at her she could see the overwhelming emotion in his eyes.  
“No I want you to stay Buffy, I guess I…” he shook his head and chuckled “I guess I didn't know how much I needed to hear you say that.”   
He glanced back making sure neither Xander nor Willow were on their way back and moved his other hand to her knee.  
“I want you to stay, I want you to move your stuff into my room and I want to wake up with you every morning. But if that is too much we’ll find our pace together.”   
Buffy could feel tears prick her eyes and took a shuddering breath.  
“That sounds kind of perfect.”  
They just smiled at each other for a moment and Buffy instinctively leaned in to kiss him, stopping herself almost instantly when she realised they were surrounded by people.  
“We really need to find an excuse to get out of here.” she sighed.

She saw that Xander was on his way over with their drinks so she straightened up her seat and let go of Giles’ hand.  
“They seem to be getting along,” he gestured over to Willow with his head as he sat down.  
“Yeah they do, I really want to see Willow happy with someone again,” Buffy replied.  
As if Willow had sensed them talking about her she all of a sudden looked over to them and blushed when she saw all three of them watching her.  
She said something to Antoine and came back to the table.

“Subtle guys,” she rolled her eyes at them as she sat down.  
“Sorry,” Buffy and Xander said simultaneously.  
“How did it go?” Buffy added.  
“Fine, we were just talking.”  
“So you didn’t make any plans?”  
“Well...” Willow’s whole face went red and she stared down at her hands.  
Buffy gave a small squeak and bounced in her seat.  
“You’re going on a date?”   
“Something like that, tomorrow night,” Willow’s smile was so genuine it melted Buffy’s heart.  
“Hey way to go Will!” Xander exclaimed and put his arm around her shoulder pulling her to him briefly, “but I have to say, it was nice for us” he gestured between himself and Willow “to talk about girls instead of me listening to you two talk about boys.”   
The obvious glint in his eyes told Buffy that he was trying to rile her up.  
“Oww poor Xander, I’ll try to date a girl the next time, okay?”  
Xander winked at Willow, “Thank you I’d appreciate it.”  
“You know I went a year without listening to conversations like this. Is this your influence?” Giles gave Buffy a sideways glance.  
“Hey that was only because you were the only one of us who was actually dating,” Xander said indignantly.  
“Well Xander even Buffy’s had a date since she’s been in London and she’s only been here for a week, don’t you think it’s your turn?” Willow nudged him with her shoulder.  
“Maybe…” Xander said a little shyly.  
“Please just don’t date anyone in your department,” Giles sighed “I have too few Watchers for office romances to..”   
“Hey weren’t you in an office romance mister?” Willow interrupted him “let Xander date who he wants!”   
Giles raised both arms in surrender causing the other three to laugh.

They spent another hour talking, Giles and Willow told the others about the now solved crisis in Germany and Xander told them all about the new slayer.  
“But I have to admit that I’m kind of exhausted,” Xander sighed as he finished his beer.  
Buffy felt a thrill go through her, she had just toed off her shoe and was running her toes up and down Giles’ ankle and lower calf. She could have done a better job teasing him if she sat on the other side of the table, but she was fairly certain that the contact was having some effect on him. Every now and then Giles would run his knuckles over the outside of her thigh causing her to break out in goosebumps.  
Now that Xander and Willow were standing up from the table she and Giles could finally go home and be alone with each other.  
“How about we just check in with you tomorrow Xander, we don’t have to make plans tonight. Let’s just see how the jet lag treats you.” Buffy smiled at Xander as she spoke but used the opportunity when both he and Willow turned their back to wink at Giles who smirked back.  
“Yeah, sounds good. I’ll just let you know when I’m up.”  
The group shared a taxi back, Buffy breathing a sigh of relief when she heard that she and Giles would be the first to get out.

As soon as they walked through the door Buffy turned around and pressed Giles against the door. She slid one hand around the back of his neck and the other under his jacket, resting it on his waist, feeling his body heat quickly warm up her fingers.  
“This was the longest day ever,” she whispered before reaching up and kissing him.   
She moved her hands to loosen his tie, pulling it from his collar before unbuttoning the first two buttons of his shirt.  
She felt Giles shiver when she ran her nose and lips over the skin she’d just exposed. Buffy licked the hollow of his neck and breathed in that scent she’d been missing all day. When she grazed her teeth over his collarbone she heard him groan and he lifted her up easily, turning them around so she was pressed between his body and the door. She wrapped her legs around his waist as he kissed her deeply, his tongue massaging hers and one of his hands ran up her thigh gripping her hip tightly before he pushed forward grinding into her.  
Buffy threw her head back, breaking their kiss to moan when he thrust against her again and reached his other hand up to massage her breast through her shirt.   
“You have no idea what you do to me when you moan like that,” he growled and buried his face in her neck.  
Buffy managed to push his jacket off his shoulders and he stepped back, putting her down so he could get it off. 

“I thought we were meant to talk about this tonight,” he said, licking his lips as he stared at hers.   
She smiled at him and shrugged off her jacket, throwing it over the banister as she started to climb the stairs.   
“We already said all we need to say for now Giles,” she turned around to look at him and reached out her hand to him “I love you and I want to stay here with you.”   
He took her hand and climbed a couple of steps so they were at eye level with each other.  
“And you want me to stay, right?” she added softly. There was no doubt in her voice, she knew they weren’t playing any games.  
“And I want you to stay,” he replied, stroking her upper arm. There was so much love in his eyes she couldn’t help leaning forward and kissing him tenderly.  
“So is there anything else that needs to be discussed tonight?” she asked when she broke the kiss, taking a step backwards up the stairs.  
“No I guess that’s all that matters.” he quickly took the few steps that separated them and pulled her close to him. Her head swam as his strong arms surrounded her and she could smell his cologne as he bent down and kissed her hard.   
They staggered a little and Buffy felt her back hit the wall. Giles broke the kiss laughing.  
“I think the stairs might not be the safest place for this.” 

They hurried up the stairs, Buffy stumbling a little on the landing when Giles grabbed her hips and pulled her back into his chest. He moved one of his hands to lift the hem of her shirt enoughs so that he could trail his fingers over her stomach. She moaned and leant her head back against his chest as she felt warmth pool between her legs.  
“Need more,” she gasped when his fingers traveled briefly under the waistband of her jeans.  
Giles nibbled on her ear before letting her go so they could climb the last few steps to his bedroom.

Buffy removed her shoes and socks and when she turned around she saw that Giles had done the same. She looked him over, he looked so sexy with his hair mussed from her running her hands through it and his lips swollen from their kisses. All of a sudden she felt a little nervous and shy, this was Giles and even though last night and this morning had been great this felt a slightly different and she looked down and shuffled her feet a little.

“Buffy?” He said her name softly and used the side of his hand to lift her face up so their eyes met. He gently stroked her cheek with his thumb.  
“I don’t know why I’m nervous,” she breathed.  
“It’s normal. Last night we didn’t really think much about what we were doing, it’s to be expected that this feels more significant,” he kept stroking her cheek and his other hand soothingly stroked her upper arm as he spoke “nothing happens tonight that you aren’t ready for. If you feel at all uncomfortable you just let me know okay? There’s no reason for us to rush this.”  
He slowly bent down and kissed her tenderly and then trailed kisses up her jaw and nibbled her earlobe. Buffy moaned and felt herself beginning to relax again. 

She ran her hands down his chest as he continued to kiss from her ear down her neck. She unbuttoned his waistcoat and pushed it off his shoulders before quickly continuing to unbutton his shirt. She fumbled with a few of the buttons and felt Giles put his hands over hers.  
“There’s no hurry love” he whispered as he ran his hands up into her hair and tilted her head back to kiss her.   
The kiss pushed all sense of nervousness out of her mind and she started to tug his shirt from his pants, desperate to touch more skin. As soon as she managed to run her hands up his back it was like lighting a spark. They tore off each other's shirts, both moaning when they could finally feel each other's skin. Buffy scraped her nails through his chest hair, down over his belly and started unbuttoning his pants.  
“I mean it when I say there’s no hurry,” he said as he grabbed her wrists to stop her from unzipping his pants. “There will be time for quick and fast later, tonight I intend to savour this, savour you.”   
His words simultaneously melted her and made her nervous again.  
“Come here,” he guided her over to the bed sitting down beside her and kissing her deeply, running his hands up and down her back a few times before unclasping her bra and removing it.  
Giles stood up from the bed and removed his pants, joining her back on the bed only wearing his boxers and pulled her up to straddle his lap. 

“You are so beautiful Buffy,” he whispered and started kissing his way from her shoulder to the hollow of her neck. He briefly dipped his tongue into it and then trailed his tongue down between her breasts. Buffy moaned when he started kissing around her nipple, first one then the other and when he finally licked and sucked on her right nipple she ran her nails down his back, grinding down on him in search of some release.  
Giles moved to the other nipple, sucking it at the same time as his hands traveled down her back, cupping her ass and gripping her hips to stop her from continuing her movement over him.   
“Need to take these jeans off Giles,” she groaned.  
Giles helped her up and looked at her with glazed eyes as she popped the button on her jeans and pushed the zipper down. He leaned forward and placed a kiss on the smooth skin she’d just exposed and his fingers grabbed the waistband of her jeans gently lowering them down as he continued to kiss and lick the skin just above her underwear.  
Buffy managed to get her jeans off but felt a little weak in the knees as Giles lightly trailed his fingers up her thighs and over her ass before hooking his fingers around the bit of fabric at her hips. He stopped and looked up into her eyes, waiting for her to nod before removing her last piece of clothing.

“Come here love,” Giles took her hand and guided her back into his lap, but this time he simply held her. He pressed her to him, one arm wrapping around her lower back and the other going up her back and holding her shoulder. Their naked chests pressed together and Buffy could feel his body heat warm up her whole body. She buried her face in the crook of his neck and breathed deeply, feeling a little overwhelmed by the emotion of the moment.  
After a short while Giles placed a kiss where her neck met her shoulder and then pulled back enough to look her in the eyes. He brushed a lock of hair away from her face and kissed her, pulling away when she attempted to deepen it.  
“I love you,” his voice was heavy with emotion and Buffy knew she had the silliest smile on her face.  
She reached up to hold the back of his neck, running her fingers through his hair.  
“I love you too Giles.”

This time he allowed her to deepen the kiss and they sat there for a few moments kissing deeply as their hands roamed over each other's backs.  
Giles lifted her up slightly moving to lay her down on the bed and standing up.  
He didn’t join her immediately on the bed after pushing his boxers off his hips, he just stood there naked, watching her. Buffy was surprised that she didn’t feel self conscious having him stare at her like that, on the contrary it was turning her on even more to see his eyes slowly travel over her body.   
Giles put one knee on the bed between her legs and spread her legs bending them at the knees so her feet were planted on the bed. He ran both hands down her inner thighs before leaning over her taking one of her nipples in his mouth. She moaned and lifted her hips when she felt his hands grasp her hips and his thumb pressed down on her clit.   
He rubbed her clit for a few more moments as he licked between her breasts, nipping on her other nipple and flicking it with his tongue.  
Buffy was sure she had never been so turned on in her life and she desperately clawed at his back and moaned his name when he pushed a finger into her. 

Giles lifted his head to look her in the eye as she whimpered when he moved his hand away from her. She was shocked to see him lift his hand to his mouth and lick her juices off his finger.  
“God you taste amazing,” he groaned as he moved further up the bed kissing her neck and shoulders.  
Buffy shivered at his deep voice and his words. None of her previous partners had ever made her feel like they actually enjoyed going down on her, they did so that she would go down on them. She hadn’t ever enjoyed the experience but now she thought she might enjoy it with Giles.  
She gasped as he settled himself between her legs and she felt his erection press against her clit. 

Giles kissed her deeply and Buffy wrapped her arms and legs around his body pulling him tightly against her. She rocked her hips, slicking his cock through her wetness and reveling in the groan she felt rumbling through Giles.   
He reached for his nightstand, pulling out a condom and removing it from its wrapper.  
Buffy took it from him before he could put it on and reached down between their bodies stroking his thick erection a few times before rolling the condom on him.  
Giles looked her in the eyes as he slowly moved his hips forward, her hand guiding him to her entrance.  
They both moaned as he finally entered her, Buffy moved her hand up to grab at his side as he buried himself inside her.  
Giles paused briefly, both of them marveling at the feeling of him filling her before they simultaneously started moving their hips.  
He wrapped an arm around her holding her close to him and rested his forehead against hers as he moved slowly, not really thrusting, it was more like he was rocking against her, managing to put some pressure on her clit with each movement.  
She felt like she had never been so connected with another person before, as they stared into each other's eyes, enjoying this first in their relationship.  
“Need more,” Buffy gasped after a few minutes of their gentle motion.  
Giles moved his arm from around her and held himself up on one elbow freeing one hand and moving it down her side and over her stomach down to her clit. He rubbed her clit as he started flicking his tongue against her nipple, making Buffy’s head spin from arousal.

When she moaned loudly he started thrusting into her with stronger and longer movements, continuing his pressure on her clit and his attention to her breasts.  
She scratched her nails down his back and then pulled him up to kiss him, taking complete control of the kiss, holding the back of his neck and pressing her tongue into his mouth.  
She felt her body begin to tremble and heard Giles groan.  
“Christ, Buffy I can feel how close you are. It feels bloody amazing love. So tight, so warm. Come for me love,” His voice was gravelled from arousal and exertion as he kept the same rhythm on her clit and in his thrusting.  
“Let me hear you Buffy,” he bent down and kissed and sucked on her neck causing her to call out his name as her toes curled and her whole body trembled under his. 

She could barely feel her legs and her heart was pounding in her chest as she slowly came down from her orgasm. It took her a moment to notice that Giles was still slowly moving within her.  
“That was amazing,” she sighed before pulling him down into a languid kiss.   
Giles moved his hand from her and wrapped it under her back again holding her close to him.   
She used the opportunity to roll them over, lifting herself up and bracing her hands on his chest as she quickened the pace of their movements. 

“I’ve spent most of my day imagining what you would look like moving above me like this,” he said as he gripped her hip with one hand as the other moved over her chest gently playing with her breasts and nipples “but somehow none of that compares to the reality.”  
He thrust his hips up to meet her movements, causing him to go even deeper inside her. Buffy moaned and threw her head back moving a little faster as she felt her second orgasm starting to build.   
Buffy scratched her nails over his chest, running one fingernail around a nipple and was pleasantly surprised by a low growl from Giles.  
She bent forward and licked a bead of sweat that ran from his neck to his nipple.  
She licked his nipple and flicked her tongue against it like he’d done so many times for her and heard his breath hitch and felt his rhythm falter.  
“Come with me Giles I’m so close,” she moaned as she felt her muscles start to tense around his cock.   
She lifted herself back up, riding him a little faster as she played with his other nipple, rolling it between her fingers.  
Giles groaned beneath her and moved his hand to her clit and pulled her down so he could take her breast into his mouth again.   
He thrust against her hard as she started coming again. His name falling almost silently from her lips as she squeezed her thighs against his side.  
Giles rolled them over again and lifted her knee to his chest, she ran her hands over his back and chest   
She moved up to suck on his nipple again still feeling a little dazed from her orgasm and felt him grip her hip so tightly it would probably bruise. Giles cried out her name, thrusting into her hard before stilling above her.

He let go of her leg, resting his forehead between her breasts for a few breaths.  
“God Giles, that was…” she fumbled for words as she ran her fingers soothingly over his back and up into his hair.  
“It was,” he chuckled. He got rid of the condom and then scooped her into his arms so she was laying almost on top of him.  
Buffy tilted her head and they shared a slow, deep kiss both softly stroking each other's skin.  
“I love you and I’m so excited that I get to keep waking up with you Giles.”  
“Mmm, that sounds blissful.”   
The last thing Buffy remembered before falling asleep was Giles kissing her forehead, the tip of her nose and her lips before tucking her under his arm so she could use his chest as a pillow and listen to his steady heartbeat.


	23. Epilogue (sort of)

When Buffy woke up the first thing she noticed was that Giles wasn’t next to her. Then she noticed some movement lower down on the bed and felt Giles trailing kisses up her calf and over her knee. He ran his lips up her thigh and ran the stubble on his cheek lightly against her skin.  
“What are you doing?” she giggled.  
“Exploring,” he said in a deep voice and the glint in his eyes made her breath hitch.  
“Come here.” she reached down to scratch her nails against his scalp.  
“I’ll get there eventually.” He smirked at her before moving over to kiss up her other leg.  
He trailed kisses up her thigh, sometimes running his tongue or lips over the more sensitive skin on the inside of her thighs. He ran the tip of his nose through the hair between her legs and moved his hands up to hold her hips down when she tried to press herself into his touch. He placed wet open mouthed kisses on the highest parts of the inside of her thighs and her mound but then started moving higher on her body. He kissed up her stomach, moving to lie between her legs as his mouth reached her breasts.  
She ran one hand over his shoulder to rake her nails against his back as she twined the fingers of her other hand through his hair, holding him close to her as he sucked a nipple into his mouth.

“She isn’t in her room” they heard Xander call out.  
“Shit”  
“Their coats are here and the cars outside” Willow called back from downstairs.  
They were frozen as they listened to Xanders footsteps get closer.  
He knocked loudly on the door “Giles? You in there?”  
Before Giles could answer they heard Willow again “Do you think something happened to them?” she sounded really worried and Giles sighed.  
“What is it Xander?”  
“Oh you’re here, do you know where Buffy is?” they heard Willow come up the stairs.  
Buffy burst out laughing and Giles rolled his eyes at her.  
The hallway was completely silent for a moment.  
“Buffy?”  
“What do you want guys?” Buffy called back and there was some scuffling on the other side of the door.  
“Nothing, absolutely nothing. Carry on...whatever...” Willow said in a high pitched voice.  
They heard some more scuffling and then a loud whisper “No! Xander leave them alone.”  
“We’ll just see you guys tomorrow or something” Willow called and it sounded as if she was pushing Xander down the steps.

Giles sighed and rested his forehead between her breasts.  
“So I guess we don’t have to figure out how to tell them?”  
Giles chuckled and rolled over to lie beside her.  
“Hey this was just getting good, why are you over there?” she followed him to the other side of the bed, moving quickly to straddle him, rubbing her wetness against him and feeling him harden between them.  
Giles groaned and grabbed her hips but he didn’t stop her.  
Buffy bent down and licked his nipple, still moving against him feeling him become impossibly hard between them.  
She moved to the other nipple gently pulling on it with her teeth.  
Giles moaned and he made several attempts to speak as he gripped her hips tighter pushing up against her.

Giles was lying with his head pressed back against the pillow, his eyes closed and his lips slightly parted. Her breath caught at the sight.  
“The things I want to do with you,” he said as he got himself under control. He looked her in the eye and ran one hand up to her waist.  
“We have the whole day to ourselves.” She smirked as she reached for a condom and quickly put it on him. She bent down to kiss him, sucking his lower lip into her mouth briefly before she raised herself up and reached between them to guide him inside her.  
They both moaned as he filled her and Giles quickly reached a hand behind her head pulling her down to kiss him again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> That's it for this one!  
> Thank you all for reading and all your lovely comments they made writing this so much fun.


End file.
